April 26 2023
Propel electric motors are built around a promising electric motor technology: the axial flux motor.
This technology lowers their weight and increases their torque. Both good news for a boat motor. Here is the Propel S1 Outboard. Want a pancake?
Sausage or pancake?
Imagine a sausage in a hot dog. The hot dog is the radial electric motor. The sausage is the rotor and the bun is the stator. Coat the sausage with mustard and place it in the bun. You can now see the effect surface of the magnetic fields of a radial electric motor.
Let's move on to the sweet side. Imagine a sandwich of pancakes with maple syrup of the same weight as the hot dog.
The two pancakes are the rotor and the stator. The maple syrup that joins them together and represents the surface of effect of the magnetic fields of an axial motor of comparable weight with a radial.
If the weight of the hot dog is the same as the weight of the pancake, then the surface of the maple syrup will be much larger than that of the mustard, so the torque of an axial electric motor compared to a radial electric motor!
The Propel S1 is a 10 kW rated engine capable of delivering a thrust of 7.35 kW to the propeller, in 48 V.
The propeller of the S1 was particularly worked, to adapt it as well as possible to this engine turning at relatively low speed (1440 RPM).
To limit any consequence of water entry in a protected engine, Propel has installed all the electrical components (engine, controller...) above the waterline. In the same vein, this outboard of the future is equipped with a closed circuit liquid cooling system, similar to the primary cooling loop, with glycol, found on diesel engines.
The glycol is cooled as it travels through the baseplate, much like a keel cooling system.
The Propel S1 is offered with a tiller with a screen that is remarkable for its display capabilities in full sunlight, but can also have a remote control with the same screen quality.
Propel also offers a range of adapted LiFePO4 batteries.
Finally, as proof that technology is not everything, the S1 housings are available in several colors to match the most elegant boats.
Propel S1 18.000 € approx. with charger, 10 kWh batteries and remote controls,
Saietta
Saietta Group PLC designs and assembles axial flux electric motors used in a wide range of applications. Light electric 4, 3 and 2 wheel vehicles, and also marine, through Propel, the division created for this purpose.
Saietta has taken over a UK plant from ZF in 2022 to install a production line capable of delivering 10,000 motors per year.
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