# Electric boats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127 "2016-09-17T01:58:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/1 "2016-09-17T01:58:52Z")
Has there been much research and development into them? Are they frequently used anywhere. I went to a historical exhibit about my town today, and it mentioned that one of the towns parks was once a resort. Around 1910, the resort had battery powered boats that tourists could rent, and the batteries lasted about an hour. With all the effort that has gone into electric cars recently, I was wondering if electric boats are also getting better, or more widely used. Or are they just a forgotten novelty? ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/2 "2016-09-17T02:33:10Z")
There are electric boats, Torqeedo are probably the market leaders and can produce engines up to the 80 hp gas engine equivalent. They suffer from the same problem as electric cars, relative lack of range and the cost of batteries, a 2hp motor will push my little boat all day on a gallon of gas or I can use my four hundred dollar Lithium battery to achieve the same task. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/3 "2016-09-17T02:38:30Z")
[They have become surprisingly sophisticated.](http://www.gdeb.com/) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/4 "2016-09-17T10:52:17Z")
Electric trolling motors are quite common, but I haven’t hear of exclusively electric powered boats. Brian ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/5 "2016-09-17T12:19:57Z")
[Electric boats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_submarine)have the longest range of any powered watercraft save for sailboats. They are generally limited only by resources like food for the crew. For small pleasure craft though batteries will limit the range. In 1910 batteries would have been far more practical than small combustion engines. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/6 "2016-09-17T14:04:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Electric boats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_submarine)have the longest range of any powered watercraft save for sailboats. They are generally limited only by resources like food for the crew. For small pleasure craft though batteries will limit the range. In 1910 batteries would have been far more practical than small combustion engines. A nuclear submarine is not an electric boat. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/7 "2016-09-17T14:09:32Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > A nuclear submarine is not an electric boat. **chacoguy** linked to their homepage. [Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_Electric_Boat) what Wikipedia says about General Dynamics Electric Boat: > [@](#): > > The company was founded in 1899 by Isaac Rice as the Electric Boat Company to build John Philip Holland’s submersible designs… So submarines have been electric boats for over a century. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/8 "2016-09-17T18:11:43Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > A nuclear submarine is not an electric boat. Before nukes their were plenty of diesel electric submarines as well. It doesn’t matter, their engines are electric, I assume nukes have batteries also. Your battery operated pleasure boat isn’t using carbon zinc batteries, it’s going to be a rechargeable, possibly recharged from a nuclear power plant just like the submarines. And as\*\* Johnny L.A.\*\* pointed out they are produced by the accurately named Electric Boat company located near me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/9 "2016-09-17T18:29:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **chacoguy** linked to their homepage. [Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_Electric_Boat) what Wikipedia says about General Dynamics Electric Boat: > > So submarines have been electric boats for over a century. Their motors may be electrical, but their power source is nuclear. It’s misleading to call them “electric boats” compared with boats that are powered by batteries only. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/10 "2016-09-17T18:44:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Their motors may be electrical, but their power source is nuclear. It’s misleading to call them “electric boats” compared with boats that are powered by batteries only. It’s not misleading at all, the OP didn’t specify battery only boats, it says electric boats. There’s nothing misleading here and all the forms electrically powered boats are reasonable to discuss here. The term ‘electric boat’ has long been applied to submarines. While electric submarines can’t run long term on batteries even the nukes [have batteries for limited operation.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_submarine) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/11 "2016-09-17T18:50:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s not misleading at all, the OP didn’t specify battery only boats, it says electric boats… Why don’t we ask **boffking** what he meant? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/12 "2016-09-17T18:53:45Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why don’t we ask **boffking** what he meant? I think it’s clear he was talking about battery-powered recreational boats. Nevertheless, submarines have been ‘electric boats’ since at least 1899. ---
**Author:** ![joema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@joema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joema)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/13 "2016-09-17T19:53:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s not misleading at all, the OP didn’t specify battery only boats, it says electric boats. There’s nothing misleading here and all the forms electrically powered boats are reasonable to discuss here… It absolutely is misleading, and nuclear propulsion was not what the OP was talking about. It is also incorrect. US nuclear submarines (and all other US nuclear vessels) do not use electric final drive but the reactor drives a steam turbine which mechanically drives the final propulsion. Only the new Zumwalt-class destroyer has electric drive, and the electrical power for that comes from a gas turbine. Conceptually the electrical power for the drive motor can be from a nuclear plant, gas turbine plant, or even fuel cells in the case of submarines with Air Independent Propulsion: [Air-independent propulsion - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-independent_propulsion) It is obvious the OP was referring to battery-powered vessels since that is all he mentioned and he compared it to electric cars. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/14 "2016-09-17T20:02:38Z")
USN nuclear subs, with exception of a couple of prototypes in the 1960’s-70’s, do not use electric drive as their primary means of propulsion. They use steam turbines mechanically connected to the propeller through reduction gears, with the steam of course generated by a nuclear reactor. They have emergency back up electric motors, batteries and diesel generators but are not in any real sense ‘electric boats’. That’s simply the name of one of the two commercial builders of nuclear subs in the US, now called General Dynamics Electric Boat, the other being the Newport News Shipbuilding subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries. However it’s true that several 1,000 non-nuclear submarines built from ca.1900 down to non-nuclear ones still built in various countries now use(d) electric motors as their primary means of underwater propulsion\*, and batteries as the main way to store the electrical energy.\*\* \*most subs through WWII did not use their electric motors for surface propulsion, that was widely adopted as a means on US subs in late 30’s-WWII, had been used in a few cases before that, but only became universal after WWII. Most WWI and WWII subs’ diesels were directly connected to the props unlike US ‘fleet boats’ of WWII many Americans are familiar with from relatives or from seeing them as museums. \*\*in recent decades many non-nuclear subs use air-independent means of converting chemical to electrical energy when submerged, for example fuel cells. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-boats/766127/15 "2016-09-19T12:46:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I think it’s clear he was talking about battery-powered recreational boats. > > Nevertheless, submarines have been ‘electric boats’ since at least 1899. Only in the same sense that “Grape-Nuts” contain grapes and nuts.