Ingenious new hand held electric boat motor on a stick
This new hand held electric boat motor is like a motor on a magic wand with a pistol grip controlling the speed of the propeller. From French startup TEMO, it has already won a bunch of awards, most recently the Innovation Award at the Paris Boat Show/ Nautique de Paris in December.
The concept is simple – a propeller attached to an electric motor attached to a telescoping waterproof stick that holds the batteries and attached to a trigger at the end that acts as the controller.
When would you use a hand held electric boat motor?
Well, first let’s talk about the specifications for the TEMO. It has a 1 kW motor, about 1.5 horsepower, with a 330 Watt (1.3 of a kiloWatt) lithium battery and a 15cm/ 6 inch three bladed propeller. If you compare it to the motors in our Plugboats Guide to Electric Trolling Motors, you’ll see that it is not that far off some of the smaller options.
So, can that move anything? It can certainly push a light inflatable with two or three people aboard.
And it is incredibly convenient. The entire unit is only 120cm long – less than 4 feet –when it is collapsed, and weighs 4.4 kg/ 9.7 lbs including the batteries. It can run for 8 hours, and the battery can be charged through a 220V outlet or USB connection.
Electric boat motors enable and encourage creativity
The TEMO was invented by Alexandre Seux, whose father and brother are both entrepreneurs. Following in their footsteps, he earned a Master of Science in entrepreneurship at the Edhec Business School in 2010, itching to start his own business. “I waited for the right idea and the right time to start this business,” he says “but it’s a project that has been close to my heart for 10 years.”
What we love about the TEMO is that it is a hand held electric boat motor is another example of how electric motors free creative thinkers to come up with new solutions when not hampered by ICE motor restrictions. It goes back as far as the Preinstorfer brothers of Accumot motors we covered in one of our Throwback Thursdays who figured out in 1955 that an electric motor, unlike an ICE model, could go right into the water. Their innovation went on to inspire future engineers like Torqeedo founders Christoph Ballin and Dr. Friedrich Bobel.
Other examples are the retractable / rotatable Navigaflex pillar motor and the SeaDrive modular approach that won the DAME Design Award in October. And of course, the 12 amazing powered hydrofoiling surfboards we featured in April would be impossible without electric motors.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the TEMO. So far it has been a great success. The first 100 units, for delivery this summer, have sold out at the introductory price of €1,000 and orders are now being taken at €1,400 for delivery in September. If you are interested, you can order and find out more on the TEMO website
