48V-06×5 Electric Outboard

The motorzoo 48V-06×5 electric outboard is a high performance electric outboard in the 6.5 kilowatt (10hp) power range.
The 48V-06×5 is the intermediate version of the motorzoo performance range of outboards, with the following specifications:

• Shaft. Adjustable long / medium / short shaft configuration to suit any application.
• Power. Rating of 6.5kW (approx. equivalent to 10hp), drawing a maximum 138 Amps at 48 Volts.
• Propeller. Diameter of 25cm (10 inch), pitch of 18cm (7 inch), and speed of 2600 RPM.
• Thrust. Force of 823 Newtons (185 Lb/pound). See guide to size the motor for your boat
• Weight. Net 24kg (no battery).
• Motor. Patented hermetically sealed (watertight) magnetic induction drive motor. Brushless, no gears, no water pump.
• Controls. Smartphone interface. Tiller throttle, or optional remote throttle & steering.

The motorzoo 48V-06×5 electric outboard is not a simple trolling motor.

It is a very high performance electric outboard power unit with patented features and an innovative design:

• Mimimal moving parts. The unit has an absolute minimum of moving parts. 
  This means fewer things that can go wrong in the marine environment.
• No moving seal. The motor itself is self contained and hermetically enclosed (watertight) within a bulb at the bottom of the shaft.
  This means there is no chance of water ingress into the electrical windings.
• Magnetic induction drive. The motor itself drives a magnet. This magnet induces motion in another magnet that is attached to the propeller.

This means there is no possibility of water ingress into the motor compartment. How is this possible? Through an innovative, patented design.

The propeller and its magnet are in a separately sealed unit that bolts onto the motor unit.

This design is the result of years of experience, trial, and error in using electric drive units in the marine environment. The design has another advantage:

• No cooling system required. Because the motor unit is immersed in water, it is naturally cooled by the flow of water around it.

Having no requirement for cooling circuits means one less thing that can go wrong. But there are more benefits to the design:

• No driveshaft required.  The shaft only contains the power cables that are required to power the motor. This means fewer moving parts,.

And there are other advantages of not having a fixed drive shaft:

• Elimination of gears. No drive shaft means no need for gears at the bottom of the shaft.
• Adjustable shaft length. This means that the 48V-06×5 electric outboard is adaptable to short, medium, or long shaft applications.

It can be used on a dinghy in shallow waters, or on a bracket attached high to the transom of a 10 meter yacht, as an auxilliary motor.

Overall, the holistic design approach to the 48V-06×5 electric outboard has produced an elegant simplicity.
It is a design that can produce 10,000 hours of trouble free operation.

That’s the reason why motorzoo is able to offer a 4 year / 10,000 hour warranty on the outboard.

There are two types of electric outboard motors. That is:

• trolling motors. Trolling motors will produce limited trust because of their limited power and propeller configurations.
  A trolling motor might drive a dinghy of up to 3 meters in length, with a weight of up to say 200kg, to a speed of up to 4 knots.
  But not much faster.
• performance motors. Performance motors such as the 48V-11×5 create more torque, and are designed to drive larger craft.
  Say up to 15 meters, with greater weights, up to 4,000kg, to greater speeds.

The maximum speed achievable will depend on factors such as:

• watercraft displacement;
• waterline length;
• motor speed;
• propeller diameter and pitch, and;
• other factors.

Electric outboard motors are very different to petrol outboard motors, on a number of levels:

• Torque. Electric outboards maintain a higher torque throughout the RPM range.
  This means that electric outboards will have a higher peak torque for a given power output.;
• Efficiency. Electric outboards operate at about 80% efficiency, with about 20% being lost as heat.
  With petrol outboards, only about 25% of the energy converts to propulsion, with about 75% lost as heat.;
• Emissions. Electric outboards have no noxious emissions, whereas small petrol motors generate lots of noxious emissions.
  Not just CO2, but unburnt hydrocarbons, SO2, and NOx.
  This is why the sale of two-stroke motors have been banned in Australia.;
• Noise. Electric outboard motors operate at much lower noise levels than petrol motors.
  This is especially true when the motor unit is immersed underwater.;
• Complexity. Electric outboard motors have very few moving parts.
  Small petrol engines, especially four-stroke ones, have an excessive number of parts, for their small size.;
• Power. Larger petrol engines (of 50hp or more) have an advantage over electric motor driven models.
  They can deliver the power required to get watercraft planing at high speeds for long periods.
  This is why electric outboards with more than 20hp power rating are not common.

The power characteristics of electric outboard motors are very different to those of shaft driven petrol outboard.

As mentioned above, the torque/RPM profile is different to start with.

And it has been found that the typical chassis seen with petrol outboards is not very suitable for conversion to electric motor use.

The traditional chassis was found to vibrate excessively when electric motors are fitted, and so a new design approach was required.

The holistic design approach of the 48V-06×5 electric outboard has allowed the introduction of performance enhancing features as mentioned above.

And it has also allowed the removal of certain features that contribute little or nothing to the motor performance.

The motorzoo 48V-06×5 electric outboard is the medium power model of our performance range of electric outboard motors:

• The 48V-06×5 has a power rating of 6.5 kilowatts.
• The motor draws a peak current of 138 Amps, and therefore requires a battery of sufficient voltage to meet these requirements.
• This is why uses a 48V (48 Volt) Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePo) power supply.
  Any battery of less than 48V would not provide the current required.
• And any battery of more than 48V would require special safety certification to work on.
  So 48V provides the sweet spot for power delivery.

It is important that the battery power supply is able to deliver the peak current of the electric motor that it powers.
Otherwise there could be damage to the battery management system.

• A 50 Amp hour (48v50Ah) LifePo Battery will typically be able to deliver a peak current of 100 Amps.
• Therefore, a minimum of two 48v50Ah batteries would be required for the 48V-06×5 motor.
  (Note, a 30Ah battery would not be sufficient).
• The combination of 2x 50Ah batteries in parallel will deliver peak current of 138A for about 45 minutes.
  (Note that this represents the minimum operating time, as it assumes full throttle for the whole time.)

At motorzoo we are obsessed with operating safety.
This is why we prefer LiFePo batteries over ternary Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) mBatteries:

• LiFePo batteries are much safer to use than Li-Ion batteries, especially in an aquatic environment.
• We also prefer connections and cables with the highest water resistance rating.