Power & Motoryacht – August 2019

But the acceleration! When I firewalled the throttles, the boat

launched a veritable G-force festival. Time to plane—5 seconds, maybe

a tad more. Quick for an 80-hp motor? That’s not the half of it.

While this phenomenon, as well as the ZenPro’s top speed of 25

knots, were directly related to the instantaneous torque that character-

izes electric motors, I soon discovered that dockside maneuvering was

in for improvement as well.

“No, no,” yelled one of the shoreside organizers, pointing off into the

distance. “Please go there where there is a more correct shore power.”

Since I’d driven the ZenPro almost all the way into the Munich

Yacht Club’s marina at this point, the request meant I had to back the

boat straight out a considerable distance, rotate her into an adjoining

fairway and then go hunting for a parking spot. Although inconve-

nient, the exercise taught me three things about electric-outboard

boat handling.

First, when maximum torque is instantly available at low-end

RPM, backdown tracking is seriously enhanced—by comparison

with an internal-combustion outboard that needs to gather way

for effect, an electric outboard steers in reverse like a pickup truck

in four-wheel drive. Second, there’s no lag time when shifting an

electric outboard’s engine control from forward to reverse—gone is

the neutral detent and the wasted seconds. And third, handling is

The Frauscher 740 is available with conventional inboard

combustion power or with an all-electric system. The

7Even (right) from Marcus Glas is an electric runabout.

34