The objectives of the FORCE project are very ambitious and innovative, since an outboard able to combine conventional with electrical drive (constituting in fact a hybrid propulsion system) does not exist yet in the market.
FORCE ambitions can be summarised as follows:
• Realisation of a pure electric drive, at zero pollutant and noise emissions for navigation in restricted or protected areas like near to coasts, marinas or internal waters;
• No compromises in terms of max. available power, since the internal combustion engine remains “as it is”;
• Possibility to navigate also in unrestricted areas with no penalties compared to conventional outboards;
• Improved overall efficiency, reduced fuel consumption and running costs;
• Plug-in functionality: possibility to recharge the battery from an external source (i.e. from the service post near to the mooring);
• Possibility to recharge the batteries during the operation, “braking” the internal combustion engine, in case of low battery state of charge (regeneration function);
• Low voltage (according to IEC 60038), with very low risk in terms of operation hazard possibilities and simplicity in terms of service and maintenance;
• Utilisation of available technology (i.e. automotive), reducing development time and costs;
• Robust Human Machine Interface to control the electric drive, aimed to allow an easy installation on the boat;
• Increased overall safety, having an additional independent power train in case of failure of the conventional internal combustion engine (redundancy); this could mean, in most cases, to avoid the necessity to have an auxiliary outboard on the boat;
• Very flexible and not intrusive architecture with potential, but also for retrofitting existing units.
