Adrian Stott wrote: > If I ever convert another barge (the severity of my > affliction may be judged from the fact that I am actually > contemplating doing this), I am almost convinced that I > should use electric drive, with a single engine being used > only as a generator.
<snip> > When navigating slack water at normal inland speeds, the > energy consumption will be quite small, and it should be > possible to supply it from the battery alone (with the engine > off) for some considerable time, with luck plugging in at > night to recharge.. > > The battery should also be able to provide enough to handle > quite heavy loads (e.g. sudden full-power reversing) for at > least short periods. > > It would also be possible to travel with the engine running, > so that the generator can keep the battery charged. This > would allow somewhat higher speed through the water. Again, > since the engine will be smaller than in a conventional > gearbox-connected set-up, short-term peak loads can be > handled from the battery. If you were to forego the option of travelling with the engine running, then you would have an electric boat, powered from batteries, and a separate diesel generator. Would that mean that you could use red diesel in the generator? Or claim the electric boat licence discount? Or stretching the point a little further, could you do it with two battery banks, and a set of changeover switches that were arranged so that you could charge one set of batteries from the generator, whilst running on the other set, swapping over the battery sets periodically, but never having the generator connected directly to the traction motor? David Mack
