When recently re-reading that thread, I had no idea what an ACES strategy was. Upon some further research, I found that the acronym ACES as used by Brunswick refers to:
- Autonomy and Assistance
- Connectivity
- Electrification
- Shared Access
The objective of such a strategy is also cited: "Our objective is to elevate and simplify boating across proficiency levels to promote an engaging, confidence-inspiring[,] and safe experience on the water."
Cf.: https://www.brunswick.com/our-company/s ... the-future
I consider myself rather fluent in speaking and writing the English language, but when it comes to corporate-speak, I am often at a loss to understand what is being said. After pondering the above comments for a while, I believe I can translate the word salad into plain speaking.
The terms "Autonomy and Assistance" refer to the boat becoming able to perform certain functions of its control or navigation itself, that is, to operate autonomously. For example, the inclusion of features like automatic trim control or auto-piloting are elements of autonomy. Assistance refers to helping the operator of the boat while underway. Providing navigation displays, depth sounders, service reminders will assist the operation. Incorporating assistance can also occur with mechanical arrangements, such as electrically opening hatches, windows, shades, and anchoring gear.
"Connectivity" must refer to two realms: connections between devices on the boat itself on local area networks, and connections of the boat to remote networks, line the global internet. A "connected" boat may be a boat that maintains an internet connection at all times, even when not in use. The boat might alert the owner that it has unexpectedly been moved, or that the ambient temperature is dangerously high.
"Electrification" must refer to the replacement of a internal combustion engines with electric motors, which are powered from a storage battery. For marine propulsion, particularly at any speed above the hull displacement speed, this seems rather inappropriate. The power needed to maintain a boat on plane is enormously larger than the power needed to maintain an automobile traveling on level ground. A boat on plane is continually accelerating to pushing its hull weight up hill, and the power needed to achieve this is much higher than needed to maintain speed on level ground with an electric vehicle or even an electric train. Unless there is significant breakthrough the ability to store electrical energy in a battery, building an electric boat that can operate at planing speeds for several hours will remain an elusive goal.
A further problem for electrically-powered boats is the recharging of their battery. There is a fundamental problem: water and electricity do not mix. Batteries capable of significant power delivery are often constructed with cells in series and operating at rather high voltages, perhaps 400-Volts to 800-Volts. Recharging those cells requires charging currents supplied at similar voltages. To make safe the handling cables with 400-Volts DC around water is not something trivial.
Finally, "Shared Access" is code for the end of individual ownership of boats. The cost of new, larger recreational boats has become astonishingly high. Many not-particularly-big Boston Whaler boats are now priced at over $100,000, and some larger ones at many hundreds of thousands of dollars or even a million dollars. The market of prospective customers who can afford boats at those prices is as correspondingly small as the prices are large. The concept of sharing access is already underway at Brunswick, embodied by their FREEDOM BOAT CLUB operation. The actual time that an individually-owned boat is utilized for recreation is typically quite limited, perhaps not more than 50-hours in a year. Costs for renting slips, hauling out, winter storage, and similar annual services are increasing. Participating in a "boat club" with shared access is one way for the cost of ownership of really expensive new boats to be transferred to multiple users of the boat. It is also a good way to insure that really expensive boats can continue to be made and sold, if even by the boat builder to his own parent corporation.
Looking at the ACES strategy in this manner makes it sound like something TESLA has been saying. TESLA is attempting to produce autonomous vehicles, that are always connected to the internet, that run completely on electrical power from storage batteries, and can be shared to reduce the cost of ownership (in the case of individually owned vehicles by letting your autonomous vehicle act as an autonomous taxi when you do not need it yourself).
The curious aspect of the shared access in the case of Brunswick is that they own the Freedom Boat Club, so they are essentially buying boats from themselves, and then renting them out to customers for limited use. TESLA, on the other hand, seem to be promoting the idea of shared access as method for individual owners of an electric vehicle to defray the cost of ownership by acting as a ride-share service.
I think Brunswick should plan for the future in a different way, planning more like TESLA does. TESLA is expecting to be able to REDUCE the cost of electric vehicles to much more affordable prices (like $25,000) than they are currently at (more like $75,000), and to manufacture those vehicles with never seen before methods of mass production that will allow reduced costs, probably particularly reduced labor costs achieved with excellent design and sophisticated manufacturing methods.
