Due to rapid evolution in electric boat technology, it’s important to sort through your development options and pick one that can give you the functionality and speed you want.
Our team of senior engineers have put together several tips that can help you get from ideation to point of sale as soon as possible.
1. Reduce complexity in your voltage systems.
Conventional low voltage systems can be cleverly augmented to reduce the overall complexity of your electric boat’s charging system. By consolidating a lot of energy storage into a high voltage battery, you may reduce (or eliminate) the need to have multiple backups for your low voltage batteries.
Knowing what systems may be redundant in a marine EV application can streamline your design process, and reduce your time spent adjusting and debugging.
2. Choose your motor carefully.
Marine EVs typically require much fewer motor RPM than road vehicles, mostly because they need just a fraction of the torque. They also tend to run at a consistent RPM for longer periods of time.
It’s crucial to evaluate your motor needs carefully upfront. Being forced to change your EV’s motor midway through development can set you back weeks, or even months.
3. Consider your region’s charging capabilities.
Imagine heavily speccing a charger, only to later find out that typical marina or storage facilities in your area don’t offer the kind of power service that can utilize that charger’s full capabilities. This type of situation is a hidden pitfall of marine EV design.
If you do your research ahead of time, you can get a keen understanding of what levels of power service are available in the area where your electric boat will be sold. That can help you determine whether to use an onboard charger—and what size it should be.
4. Utilize Raptor for your electric boat supervisory controller.
New Eagle’s eMBD software, Raptor, gives your development team a head start by providing a library of customizable Simulink blocks, thereby eliminating the need to create certain commonly used block sets from scratch.
These blocks are compatible with Mathworks’ C code generator, allowing you to simplify your code base efficiently—and saving you even more time.
Work with a partner who understands marine EV development.
New Eagle knows the ins and outs of marine EV development and can help you avoid common pitfalls throughout the process. The tips listed above are just a small preview of how working with our engineers can give you a market advantage.
If you have questions about a electric boat project, reach out to [email protected] for more information.