Haswing Ultima Electric Outboard on BR20?

[Andy Stobbart]

Hi,

Has anyone seen/tried a Haswing Ultima electric outboard as an alternative to the likes of Torqueedo on a BR20?

It seems like a pretty good package though perhaps lacking some of the fancier features of the more expensive brands but it might fit the BR20 outboard well better…

[Graham W]

Andy,

It all depends on what you're going to use your BR20 for.  If it's for freshwater/non-tidal, like Rutland Water or Lake Bala, where stinkpots are in any case forbidden, I'm sure that it would be a good choice.  I haven't seen one in action except on YouTube but it has the required extra short shaft for the BR20 well and by all accounts is quite robustly made in China.

However, if you're going to be on the sea with it, its 600W battery capacity almost certainly won't be enough to give you the range that you need to fight against waves and currents.  If you definitely want electric, you then have two choices: get a second or even third battery for the Haswing (£500 each); or get an outboard like the eProp Spirit extra short shaft, which has a much larger battery (1276W) and will also fit the BR20 outboard well. 

I know that Torqeedo have (finally!) updated their range in response to competition but they still don't do an extra short shaft version and parts of the design remain flimsy, unlike the eProp.  I speak from experience that they don't last well at sea, particularly the plasticky electric connectors.  In addition, their battery is quite a bit smaller than the eProp's at 915W (so you might need to buy a spare for £850).  And for some unfathomable and certainly unjustifiable reason, they choose to price their 1103 at nearly 15% more than the equivalent eProp.  Apparently their final assembly is in Germany but their supply chain is almost certainly Chinese-oriented.

Total cost for the Haswing with one spare battery would be just under £2,100, which is taking you into Torqeedo pricing territory.  I was amused to see their claim of having such a light battery - that's because it has such a small capacity!  They (purposely?) state the battery details in such a way that odious comparisons with the competition are more difficult to make.  I'm also a bit puzzled by their 9" three-bladed propeller.  11" two-bladed, looking like it's suited to a model aeroplane and as used on the Torqeedo and eProp, makes more efficient use of the electric motor's drive characteristics on a displacement boat.

By the way, all electric outboard manufacturers overstate their usable power in direct comparison with what a 2.5 or 3HP stinkpot will achieve.  I reckon all of the above three electric outboards are roughly equivalent to 1.5HP.  Again, this is speaking from experience - comparing my since sold Torqeedo 1003 driving into the wind in parallel with another BR20 driven much faster by a Suzuki 2.5HP.  I also used to have one of those once upon a time - nasty, smelly unreliable thing.  So even with a big battery or an extra spare for your electric outboard, you have to be much more conscious of what the waves and tides are doing.  Which I enjoy, so far!

[Andy Stobbart]

Thanks for your reply.
I am not overly concerned about the issues if it being electric but more about the fit into the well (admittedly cost is also a factor in the decision). I was initially looking at a 2nd hand motor with 2 batteries for half the price of a new motor and battery. Being some distance away I was not able to check the fit in the well. Unfortunately that has now sold to someone else but it has got me thinking.
FWIW I do sail on the sea but the tides & currents here (NZ) are nothing like Bristol Channel/Solent so I only ever use my current petrol motor to get out into the breeze or in to my usual point of departure - and I suppose I might use it if the wind dropped completely too far to row home, which has almost happened  a few times but never totally, so I have always been able to ghost in close enough to home. The rest of the time I sail everywhere.
For me, therefore, the shortish range of an electric is not too much of a consideration and the main attractions are the reliability/ease of use and low noise - my current motor is a Honda 2; it is a noisy little beggar and the sound seems to get amplified by the well - possibly a good thing because I then only use it as a last resort!

[Graham W]

To fit in the BR20 (or BRe) outboard well without having to modify the well transom, the motor shaft length needs to be not much more than 50cm.  This is shorter than stinkpot short shafts because motor propellers have a much larger diameter.  The Haswing Ultima short shaft is 54cm and the eProp Spirit extra short shaft is 52.5cm.  The shortest Torqeedo 1103 is the “short” shaft version at 62.5cm, which won’t fit without jiggering about.  It would be so easy for Torqeedo to make an extra short shaft version but as with so many other missed opportunities, it’s typical of them not to have done so.

To all the advantages of electric, I’d add lack of fumes and smell and being waterproof.  But reliability (not Torqeedo) and lack of noise are also right up there.  On the risk side, as in the car industry the outboard batteries are all Li-Ion.  This is a less stable technology than the less energy-dense and therefore heavier LiFePO4 and has been known on rare occasions to catch fire.  Hopefully one day all the batteries will be solid state or some other clever technology which is more energy dense, safer and cheaper to produce.

A German Haswing distributor mentions a new Ultima battery with 50% higher capacity compared to the current 600W version but it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else yet.

[Andy Stobbart]

Thanks for this info Graham.