Hybrid Performance Update: Knots, Kilowatts, & Nautical Miles

[@thekings2056]

Mark - so I watched a few times and the question that keeps coming up (2 me) is “ Is 6 kw (recharge) and 10kw (motor) the right size?” at 40 hp, load seems to be not as matched as it could be to the engines. A knee in the curve from your present data could yield a 15kw motor with 10kw charging places you in a 7 day sweet spot given other parameters are constant with a charge capability that could come from a 90kw alternator as well for light loaded (at anchor) efficiency.

[@AntaresCatamarans]

Thank you for your inquiry. Indeed, a 15kW motor is feasible in a hybrid system. Notably, we now provide a 15kW option for our hybrids. This system is paired with a 56hp Yanmar engine, which enables the batteries to be recharged at a rate of 12-15kW per engine. However, it is important to note that the charging is de-rated for the 40hp unit.

[@RobertsLeakPlug]

HI Mark, this is very interesting! I have questions: At 10:20 the table shows a 1.2Gal/h burn rate at 1800RPM. The generator is engaged in this scenario. According to my reading, it only generates 1.2kWh at this point (5.2kWh-4kWh = 1.2kWh). I assume 1800 RPM is about 60% engine load. At what RPM do the generators generate near the rated power of 6kWh? Of the 1.2gal/h, how much is consumed by the generation mode? Thank you 😊

[@AntaresCatamarans]

Hey Robert! Nice to hear from you. We are seeing about 95% charging capacity at 1,400 RPMs. We did not check the fuel burn at 1800 with no load as we didn't want to run the RPMs that high and not have any load on the engine.

[@jackwickman2403]

I greatly appreciate all the work you did to gather this data. Thank you for that. Please correct one technical error in your terminology. The storage capacity of a battery is measured in kiloWattHours, not kiloWatts. This is analogous to a diesel tank's capacity in gallons. The only time you got this right was at the marina shore power cost of $ .30 per kiloWattHour. Of course I can understand that when you say your battery bank has a max capacity of 40 kiloWatts, and a working capacity of 32 kiloWatts, that you really mean kiloWattHours, so the information is still usable, but really you should fix this.

[@AntaresCatamarans]

Thanks for catching that! You are right and we will be sure to clarify this going forward.