Flux Marine Redefines Marine Propulsion Through Electrification

As efforts to combat climate change intensify, electrification has become a focal point, particularly in automotives. The evolution of electrification technology for boating is also making significant strides, though less visible outside of the marine industry.

It is with no less importance that companies are prioritising a shift to more sustainable options here, given that recreational boating contributes to an approximate 150 million gallons of pollution to water, plus destruction to habitats and marine life from noise and sewage pollution. Recognising these challenges, one “Ocean State” startup aims to be a leader in transforming the industry.

Flux Marine develops 100% electric outboards for marine propulsion. Beyond the sustainability impact, the electric outboards allow for a more enjoyable experience for recreational boaters. A single charge allows for a full day of boating without having to worry about the hassle of taking on additional fuel, while the motor operates quietly giving boaters a tranquil ride. With the equivalent acceleration power of 150HP, the motor propels available boat packages from Highfield and Scout to 30 mph and offers a range of 30 miles at 25 mph, plus the ability to travel nearly 100 miles at lower speeds.

The team has clearly designed a system with no compromise in performance. The development of the system requires expertise in a myriad of areas including mechanical, electrical, and powertrain engineering. Mathworks’ MATLAB and Simulink are used throughout their development processes to bring all the components together. Below, members of the Flux team highlight some of their key project uses:

• Jonathan Lord, co-founder and CTO, oversees the design and performance of the full system. He says, “We knew it was critical to use industry standard technology, the frontier technology, to build the best product possible. Using Simulink, we are building a digital twin of the powertrain system which allows us to expedite the iteration process. We can catch problems and unforeseen abnormalities of the system within the digital realm before taking it to the physical environment. Testing is key to a safe and reliable system and critical for a hardware company to mitigate expensive mistakes and downstream impacts.”
   
• Desirae Minnett, powertrain engineer, works on key projects such as the thermal management system. She shares, “MATLAB is key in my day to day. It’s a big productivity enabler. It allows me to put together careful scripts for data analysis and curve fitting, looking at key statistics to ensure that all the tests that are run are analysed in a standardised way, so that way we’re following rigorous scientific method. The intuitive design allows us to deal with very large amounts of data easily, drawing solid conclusions, and empower us to make decisions.”
   
• Michael Zahradnik, lead controls engineer, is working on solving the problems of integrating the full system together including the battery management system, motor controller, onboard charger, DC fast charging controller, and more. He explains, “We use Simulink to develop the control algorithms and test in a simulation environment. Simulink being platform agnostic, allows us to generate the control algorithms that can be ported to multiple pieces of hardware which helps speed up development. It’s really changed the way controls engineering have been able to develop code in a rapid development manner. With marine safety being paramount, Simulink also enables us to test edge cases our systems will see in the real world, allowing us to minimise safety risks without sacrificing performance.”
   

In under a decade, the group of young entrepreneurs successfully transitioned from an idea in university to a commercial venture with multiple product offerings and partnerships in play. Next time you’re out on the water, take a good look around, because you might not even hear the next wave of marine propulsion speeding by.

Image credit: iStock.com/Nicola Colombo