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50 km sailing for 1 Euro, why is electric sailing expensive?
On Saturday, May 11, we sailed a long round of Westland, Midden-Delfland and Delft in one day with our Robust-MT ZWS500. The conclusion is that the operating costs of electric sailing are completely negligible. Read it here.
We left Monster around half past twelve. Our boat is equipped with a very light ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo . We have deliberately done this to demonstrate that a serious sloop can handle small inland waters with a light motor and portable battery . With this we also demonstrate that it is possible to enjoy electric sailing without being dependent on a charging point or shore power. Even when the boat is not at home, you can sail electrically with a range of approximately 4 hours per battery.
However, we now also have access to a few heavier ePropulsion E80 batteries from our other demo boat. For the occasion and convenience, we spooned it into our Robust-MT ZWS500 .
We left Monster at about half past twelve in the morning. the throttle (strange word for an electric boat) to about 500W and we actually didn't look at it all day. The boat runs at that speed somewhere between 6 and 8 km/h, which is just slightly above the maximum allowed speed on our local water. With a Standard Spirit Battery this speed can be maintained for 2.5 hours, a fraction slower and that increases to 4-5 hours.
From Monster we sailed via 's-Gravenzande, Naaldwijk, Heenweg through the long Zwethkanaal to De Lier. Be careful, the canal has a few very low bridges and the flagpole really needs to be removed to avoid losing it (again).
In De Lier we stopped for a delicious extensive lunch at the #1 location in Westland: De Bongaard .
After a delicious lunch we walked around De Lier with the dog and got an ice cream before continuing our tour.
From De Lier the journey went to Schipluiden where we waited a while on the bridge and did some small shopping. Tip of the day: €3 in cash is required for the bridges in Schipluiden, which we did not have with us. The bridges open nicely one after the other.
After Schipluiden via Den Hoorn, we sailed straight through and around Delft. Then via Rijswijk and Wateringen to the location for dinner.
There are not many locations in Westland where you can eat by the water. There is even one on the Wateringen side along the Zweth and that is where we ended up. We wanted to eat here sometime to see if it would be as worthwhile as De Bongaard. Not so! We won't mention the location by name, but we don't expect to return there anytime soon.
After a quick bite we continued on the Zweth to intersection 20. Turn right to Honselersdijk, through Honselersdijk to Poeldijk and turn left back to Monster.
We kept the power constant at 500W. Along the way we were regularly overtaken by wave-making motorboats with combustion engines. So we weren't really that fast and we don't want to be at all when we go sailing for our rest.
However, we overtook two electric boats. The first with the identical ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo engine on board. This boat was sailing at full power, we were at half power. In Schipluiden we caught up with a rental boat with an ePropulsion Navy 6 Evo on board . Inquiries taught us that the skipper was using 1400W at that time; we 500W. The efficiency of the Robust-MT ZWS-500 appears to make a huge difference.
At the end of the trip, 10 hours, 2 dinners and 50km further, it turned out that we had used 4kWh of the more than 8kWh we have on board. Converted to the average price of April, we sailed all day for € 1.04. Imagine that with a combustion engine. Especially when maintenance and depreciation are also included, which are minimal for us, but certainly not for the combustion engine.
The price of an ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo with battery is currently € 2,589, including consumption costs and no depreciation. We believe that this engine is in no way inferior to a 6 hp four-stroke engine in small inland waters. With a maximum speed of 6 km/h we do not have to look at power or top speed and in terms of torque and thrust, this engine is on par with a 6 hp combustion engine.
If we look at a brand like Yamaha, there is a 1-cylinder variant for sale with a recommended retail price of € 1,685. The disadvantage of this engine, in addition to expensive consumption and maintenance, is also the enormous noise. A quieter-running 2-cylinder variant of this is also for sale for exactly the same € 2,589.
Our ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo is not 'quieter' but 'quiet' and also identical in purchase and consumption and also much better for the environment, in particular the local eco-system.
50 km sailing for 1 Euro, our conclusion: electric sailing in 2024 is no more expensive than sailing with a combustion engine. Any higher purchase price will be recouped in no time and the peace and security on board are priceless.
