New ePropulsion ‘eCore’ simplifies boat energy management

If you’ve ever peeked inside the workings of an ‘overnight’ boat – one that has basic appliances like refrigerators and stoves, integrated navigation systems  – you know how complicated the electric circuits can appear.

For boat owners considering electric propulsion as they look at rising fuel prices and global environmental disruptions, those wirings and connections can look even more complex when motors and batteries are added to the mix.

Recognizing this, ePropulsion, one of the world’s largest builders of electric boat motors and systems, has designed ‘eCore’: an intelligent, integrated approach to managing propulsion and onboard power that simplifies everything for the user.

eCore reduces the need for multiple standalone components and extensive internal wiring by centralizing energy management in one place, delivering what the company is calling ‘Smart Energy Management for Modern Mariners’.

eCore is the ‘brains’ of the vessel’s power network, bringing energy generation, energy storage and energy consumption together and managing the multiple inputs and outputs, including shore power, diesel generation, solar and hydrogeneration, electric propulsion and AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) loads.

To extend the body metaphor a bit, if eCore is the brains of the boat, the heart is its two complementary components – the eCore 96VDC (the main energy management unit) and the optional eCore AC module.

They work together to provide flexible management of both DC and AC power. The issue is that many or most of the essential items on a boat operate on DC – things like navigation lights, instruments, bilge pumps – while other things – like wall outlets, microwave ovens, air conditioning – run on AC.

That’s also true of the inputs. Solar panels are DC (as is the battery), while shore power is AC. And the circuits always have to remain separate.

The reason for the two eCore components and modules is flexibility and scalability. Boatbuilders and owners can begin with the DC system for essential requirements and then expand the installation with the eCore AC option when additional onboard power management is required. eCore brings everything together with one common monitoring, management and display system.

The eCore intelligent load management technology reads what is happening all over the boat and then makes more effective use of available energy. Power-saving and load-shedding capabilities can help manage demand, while consumption monitoring and historical data provide greater insight into onboard energy use.

The system also supports customized HMI design (that’s the acronym for Human-Machine Interface, a fancy name for things like screens, monitors and dials) that can be integrated with third-party multifunction displays from Raymarine, Garmin and Simrad/B&G.

For boat owners, the result is simpler, more intuitive control of onboard energy, allowing them to spend less time thinking about available power and more time enjoying life onboard. For boatbuilders, eCore provides a scalable platform for integrating electric propulsion and energy management from a single technology provider.

Danny Tao, CEO of ePropulsion, said: “The electrification of boating is about much more than replacing a combustion engine with an electric motor. As boats become increasingly sophisticated, we need to think about how energy is generated, stored, distributed and used across the entire vessel.

“eCore has been developed to make that process simpler. By bringing propulsion and onboard energy management together into one intelligent ecosystem, we can give boatbuilders an integrated solution they can rely on.   

The introduction of eCore marks an important expansion of ePropulsion’s technology portfolio, building on the company’s expertise in electric propulsion to provide boatbuilders with a more comprehensive solution for the next generation of electrified vessels.

ePropulsion website
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