POD DRIVE
A development of the electric outboard, the submersible motor is either fixed to a mounting under the hull, or to a steerable through-hull shaft. Some can even be mounted on the rudder to act as a directional thruster. The power cable is usually fed down through the pod’s control shaft or attachment flange for protection.
Example 1: Seadrive Norwegian-based start-up Seadrive began with the premise of a steerable ‘puller’ (pictured right) or ‘pusher’ pod capable of efficient regeneration. Most striking is the swept shape of the propeller, which spins efficiently when sail-milling. The control unit has also been set to optimise the energy produced. The Seadrive unit is also rotatable for directed thrust and can be turned through 180° so the propeller is facing forwards (or rearwards on ‘pullers’), opposing its usual drive orientation. This greatly improves the auto-rotation speed, something already used by companies such as ZF on their steerable re-gen saildrives.
Example 2: DeepSpeed Italian company Sealence has developed a pod drive with some closely guarded technology within its ‘aircraft jet engine’ style cowling. The drive compresses and ejects water electrically and is designed to run from a generator, although it can also be battery fed. Originally intended for fast ferries and large yachts, the DeepSpeed model is also available in much smaller units for leisure craft.
Example 3: ePropulsion ePropulsion has taken its outboard motor technology and developed it as the EVO range of pods. The big advantage of this design is it also produces significant hydroregeneration, but no loading is placed on the prop until a suitable speed is achieved. The company is using advanced electronic protocols to maximise battery efficiency with mobile phone apps to keep tabs on range, energy consumption and speed. The EVO is offered in three units: 1kW, 3kW and 6kW.