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It's quick, it's quiet, and it's covered in 300 square meters (3,229 sq ft) of solar panels. The 78-ft (24-m) electric SolarImpact yacht is a concept designed as the first of its kind – an ocean-going solar-powered yacht. An 800-kWh battery on board gives it 10 hours of cruising capability, which can be extended by topping up the battery when the Sun's shining.
The yacht's giant solar array, which covers the vast majority of its upward-facing surfaces, can generate up to 320 kWh a day if they're getting lots of sun. They can serve as the vessel's sole power source if conditions allow, and you're prepared to take your time.
Although this 70-ton aluminum-hulled beast boasts 1,000 kW (1,341 hp) of all-electric power and has an impressive maximum speed of 22 knots, if you're running all the regular systems solely on solar, you will be able to cruise indefinitely, but only at a slow 5 knots – which would take you around the world in about six months if there wasn't a whole lot of land in the way.
Sea-steaders, rejoice!
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday September 20 2018, @02:53AM (4 children)
But what if you didn't care about going slow, and were just going to cruise across the ocean mining bitcoin? :)
I actually meant a design that was optimised to extract power. Something like a catamaran where the bit between the hulls funnels into a turbine. If the funnel/turbine were lightweight and retractable, you could charge your batteries when you weren't in a hurry and still have nearly full speed when you were.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @02:53PM
One of the reasons that boats don't sink anymore is that, due to weather forecasting, they usually have enough time to get out of the way. Sailboats can do about 100-200nm/day under sail or power. Speed is counted as a safety feature, and you need lot of them.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 21 2018, @02:24AM (2 children)
Yes, you could. I still think that solar cells plastered to the top surfaces are a lot less fuss and bother, for better gain in anyplace I'd want to be sailing (yes, above the arctic circle in winter the wind powered generators will win, but... who wants to go there?)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday September 21 2018, @06:11PM (1 child)
Solar cells are great where you have a lot of surface to mount them on. There is a specific use case I was thinking of. I know some people who go somewhere between 2 and 20 km off the coast, slowly drift along fishing for most of the day, then go home arriving just before dark.
Each day they do this, it costs them fifty to a hundred dollars (AUD). Over their average two week holiday, they spend more than a thousand on fuel, plus there is all the weekends they take the boat out.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 21 2018, @09:36PM
The short answer is: if they're spending 50 to 100 AUD on fuel, they'll be spending a VERY large multiple of that on batteries to hold the energy of the fuel, and the batteries will end up weighing quite a bit more.
If money is the problem: get a trawler and be content to motor at 15kph or so - they might spend an extra hour each way on the travel time, but their fuel cost would drop by a factor of 5 to 10. Odds are, they could motor their current fishing boat at 15kph and dramatically reduce their fuel consumption - it's just that the trawlers are designed to travel like that so "feel" a bit better while doing it, and can also be quite comfy on the inside...
Around here, boats like this: https://www.boattrader.com/listing/1991-albin-32-sportfisher-twin-diesel-103160017/ [boattrader.com] in good running condition but less than stellar cosmetics occasionally come down under $20K asking...
🌻🌻 [google.com]