It sounds very promising: 200 watts of power coming almost silently from an energy source that is already on board. The exhaust air, almost pure water vapour, is simply routed outboard.
On a well-equipped cruising yacht, the daily energy consumption with on-board computer, converter, refrigerator, heating and navigation electronics can easily reach 80 ampere hours (equivalent to 960 watt hours). To generate this, the cell needs five hours and consumes around 500 grams of gas. Contrary to the manufacturer's original specification (1 kilogramme at 4.8 kWh per day), this shows the rather low energy density of propane/butane. Without other consumers such as the cooker, an 11 kg bottle is empty after three weeks. Then you need a replacement. However, if a second cylinder is on board, even longer ocean passages are no problem. The appliance, which weighs 25 kilograms and measures 660 x 270 x 400 millimetres, is designed for a service life of at least 3,000 hours.
Many people doubt the usability of gas for fuel cells. Not so the young company from Heilbronn. Field tests must first show whether the cell, called Enyware, works in everyday on-board use. Enymotion does not want to launch the product on the market until this has been ensured. For this reason, units will not be delivered to customers until the 4th quarter of 2011. Provided that they have previously transferred 6,500 euros to the Heilbronn-based company.
