ePropulsion eLite Review | which is best: eLite, Spirit or Petrol outboard?

I very much dislike the idea of having an integrated battery...

This is the tech corner ive been waiting for. (Electric vs petrol) I’m leaning towards torqeedo 1600w for my 3m tender)

You had me there for a while. I was about to buy the spirit. Then during your vid I was thinking ‘hmmmm, maybe the elite’.
Then at the last moment….back to the Spirit!
Very useful review. Thank you.

The wattages from the little one shocked me. I power a 27 lb-ft motor with 55ah AGM for trolling a small lake. For battery sake i try to stay between 8-12 amps, less than 150W. Just a little faster than paddling.

Do you think you could use this motor as a rudder on a sailing dinghy like dinghyGo ?

Thanks for that. I did wonder if it was any good.

"It's cheap" Um no. I think the trolling motor works just fine at half the price (motor plus battery, plus higher pitch prop). The dinghy gets hull speed with no problem and the range at full power is double using just half the charge of a 100AH battery. Both trolling motor and battery are light enough my wife feels comfortable handing them to me over the edge of our boat. Anyway, thank you for the review. I think it is good to showcase electric motors. Assuming 3.5Kts (3.8 if you are picky) for an electric motor (hull speed), what does the 9.8hp give you on the same hull? I expect even on a plane it is not much more than 10kts. Is it really worth it? I am sure the elite will have some good uses (like the canoe you mentioned where finding space for e battery is....) and the spirit looks good for those with deeper pockets than mine.

Just hyporthetically, if you wanted the power of the Spirit but could only lift the eLite, could you mount two eLites side by side? How hard would it be to build a bar that connected both tillers, and to connect the kill cords so you could pull both at once, but what about throttle control? It would certainly be useful to someone to lift two light engines rather than one heavy one.

Great video from Aruba, seeing boats that were in Curacao.

Can i ask if you have a short or long shaft with the spirit. I bought a long shaft for my 21 foot sailboat but was thinking of also using it on yhe dingy i have. Afraid it might be too long.

I think you guys are going to need a bigger boat for all the stuff you have….

I'm extremely happy with my Spirit, bought after your extensive test in Venice. Its far easier to "fuel" up than the petrol outboard I'd had for 15 years. Love it!

Do you have security concerns when you go ashore using the Spirit? If so, how do you ensure it doesn't 'walk'? Bill

I fancy electric but just not enough range. We use dinghy at least twice a day. We have only 640w of solar and can't charge enough stuff now so not for us. I would appreciate ideas you have for keeping spray out of the dinghy 😉

Thx for the review

Another interesting technical episode, thank you. If you don't mind answering a couple of questions about a previously reviewed item which I am currently considering buying, the Fendertex fender, what model and what number of fenders, did you select for Fair Isle?

Worth pointing out there are two European alternatives to this - the Temo and Remigo. I think the latter was the first to use this design form. They're both double the power of the eLite and about double the weight, but lighter than the Spirit and I'd say easier to handle. The Temo I believe has a removable battery so you could have a spare as backup. Something Yachting Monthly pointed out is that because of their design, they still act as a rudder even if the prop isn't spinning. Having said all that I really like the look of the eLite, a good option if you don't have masses of spare battery capacity onboard but still a very useful device in it's own right. And a lot cheaper than any of the others.

A good review. And I think a good assessment. I have a epropulsiom spirit for my little dinghy and a thrustme kicker, which is very similar to the unit you reviewed. I’m on a buoy in a Norwegian fjord. So the 4 kg Kicker is my go to and we tend to anchor close enough to shore to use that as a daily runner, because it is easy. The spirit is good for longer distances. But the Kicker has the same power and top speed. But much shorter running time if used at full power. But very quick to charge. So I do in fact prefer my Kicker. As you say - different usage situations call for different equipment.

You should have know not to discard the "engine cutoff" it's there to save lives a prop on a electric power can do a lot of damage to someone,

Great vid. I am really conflicted between the 2 with range being the issue. What would put me over the edge for the Elite (I prefer its design), can I adapt a 48v E-bike battery and use it as a back-up power source (nice and small)? As I understand it, the Spirit can be adapted for additional nonproprietary 48v batteries. but the standard battery is enough for me. The design of the Elite is great and its competitors like the Thrustme has a back-up attachable battery. the Remigo and Temo are the same design but 2+ the size and price. I have seen a number of videos where 48v E-Bike batteries are used in this fashion, but on cheap Amazon Eletric outboards as the primary power source

Can you slide a spare battery in like with the Nemo?