Whether it was a schooner crossing the Atlantic or a jet shattering the sound barrier, setting a speed record has long been a way to promote a new product or technology. So, it’s no surprise that as electric marine propulsion advances there has been growing interest in setting a top speed mark for a boat fueled by batteries. What is surprising is that when that record fell in late 2023, it was Princeton Electric Speedboating (PES), a club of Princeton University students, rather than a major manufacturer, that raised the bar.
In October the tiger-striped PES hydroplane Big Bird howled over Lake Townsend outside Greensboro, North Carolina, to set a new Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) Circuit Outright Electric Class record speed of 114.2 mph, besting the previous record by more than 25 mph. PES was formed in 2020 when Princeton junior Nathan Yates read an invitation for participants in the Promoting Electric Propulsion competition. Four other students, working remotely during the Covid pandemic, joined Yates in the effort to build a powertrain for a small hydroplane—too small, as it turned out, as the boat swamped moments after it was launched at the 2021 competition in Boston. The team, which started to grow in size as more students joined the effort, acquired a 12-foot D Stock hydroplane dubbed Tiger which reached a top speed of 42 mph with electric power.
Enter Princeton freshman Andrew Robbins, a Michigan native who grew up waterskiing behind his family’s 17-foot Boston Whaler and piloting their 42-foot Cigarette. Robbins noted that Tiger could hit 85 mph with an internal combustion outboard. If PES could source a more-powerful electric outboard, and perhaps a bigger boat, Robbins proposed the 88-mph speed record could be eclipsed. “This was right after our first race, where we didn’t even finish,” said Yates. “But I was sold. I could see the math and the vision. It was absolutely doable.”
Robbins eventually connected with powerboat racer J.W. Myers, the owner of Black Sheep Racing in South Carolina, who put Robbins in touch with Jim Dernoncourt, the owner of Big Bird, a 14-foot Pro Outboard canopied hydroplane designed by Ed Karelson and built in 1993 for the late Howard Anderson, a record-setting racer and APBA Honor Squadron member. “J.W. Myers knew this boat and thought it was both fast and safe, and happened to be in Michigan,” said Robbins. “Dernoncourt had just completed a total refurbishment of the boat, so it was solid and had no rigging. It was perfect for our project.”
Seeking more power and technical expertise, the PES team—now numbering 44 undergraduate and graduate students representing engineering, economics and physics disciplines—contacted Ben Sorkin, a 2017 Princeton grad and one of three co-founders of Flux Marine, an electric outboard start-up based in Narragansett, Rhode Island. “I had been working on a hydroplane with an electric motor in 2015 when I was at Princeton,” said Sorkin. “The team reached out to me and I acted as a mentor.“
To power the record-setting boat, PES utilized batteries and powertrain components supplied by Flux, including a 400-volt 24-kWh battery pack. The team used the Flux motor, tuned up by modifying the controller to increase rpm and boost peak power from 150 to 180 hp. For a run of this short duration—less than one minute—it was possible to allow the motor to operate at peak, rather than lower continuous, power. The team had to devise a midsection to support the motor and mate to the transom of Big Bird, and a closed loop cooling system for the motor and inverter. The motor drives a Bass Machines lower unit with 6 percent overdrive gearing and a four-blade 8 x 19 Dewald propeller.
The motor and controller weigh only about 80 pounds, but the four lithium batteries weigh about 330 pounds. When powered by an internal combustion engine, the boat carried only about 35 pounds of liquid fuel. Total boat weight with driver increased from about 700 pounds to 975 pounds.
Working in a space in the Princeton mechanical and aerospace engineering lab, the team got the boat together and launched it for its first test on Lake Carnegie in March 2023. The result was disappointing: the boat only reached a speed of 7 mph. The team then devised new components and adjusted the motor trim and height. By August, the boat could reach a speed of 98 mph. The team was ready for an official attempt to challenge the mark of 88.61 mph set in 2018 on Lake Coniston in Cumbria, England, by the Jaguar Vector racing team tunnel boat piloted by Peter Dredge.
Establishing a world record requires a speed run sanctioned by UIM and the American Power Boat Association (APBA), determined as an average speed over a measured distance of one kilometer. The boat is allowed to get up to speed before entering the measured kilo. To set a record the boat must make two passes through the course in opposite directions, with not more than 15 minutes between passes. Recharging or replacing batteries between runs is not permitted.
The team engaged Black Sheep Racing driver John Peeters to pilot the boat on a course set up on Lake Townsend. With the support of 18 PES team members, Peeters pulled away from a launch ramp and onto the course on Oct. 26, and posted a first pass at 111.08 mph and a return run of 117.50 mph, for the 114.2 average. With more than 80 percent of battery charge remaining, the team could have attempted additional runs but a broken prop shaft ended the day.
Robbins, now a 21-year-old junior, says PES plans to keep pursuing the speed record, utilizing a new 16-foot hydroplane being constructed by Black Sheep Racing and different battery chemistry to achieve a faster discharge rate for more power.
“Setting this record has raised awareness of advancing electric marine power,” said Robbins. “We are demonstrating that electric power can be competitive and will get better and better. It’s also not a bad resume builder for everyone on the team.”
This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue.
