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Author Topic:   E-TEC 225-HP Fuel Economy

jimh posted 08-18-2010 08:18 AM ET (US)
Here is some fuel consumption data for my 2010 E-TEC 225-HP engine taken from our recent six-day, five-night cruise of northern Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada.
The overall distance, fuel, and time were
MILES = 213.5
GALS = 76.46
HOURS = 18.1
giving trip average values of
MPG = 2.8
GPH = 4.2
MPH = 11.8
For the most part the sea conditions were very favorable and we could operate the boat on-plane at optimum settings. For example, we found the following conditions very good for fuel economy:
RPM = 3700
MPH = 26.2
MPG = 2.8
LOAD = 35
(this is a parameter shown by the engine in its electronic instrumentation which is proportional to throttle setting)

RPM =3500
MPH = 25.1
MPG = 2.85
LOAD = 34
These values are substantially better than we could ever obtain with the old 1992 Evinrude V6 225-HP carburetor motor, which would peak at about 2.0-MPH under the best conditions with the sort of load we had that day. With the E-TEC we are now able to operate at optimum cruise at 2.85-MPG, which is an improvement of 0.85-MPG, or an increase in fuel economy on plane of 0.85/2.0 or 43-percent.
Not all of the time was spent at these optimum conditions. One afternoon due to winds and waves we had to make a passage of about 25-miles upwind and against head seas which reduced our speed to about 14-MPH, a point were the boat operates rather inefficiently. The E-TEC ran wonderfully in these conditions, operating at about 3000 to 3100-RPM. The ability of the E-TEC to maintain a constant engine speed as the load on the boat varies with its attitude in the waves is a very important asset. It relives the helmsman of making constant throttle adjustments to the engine speed, letting the helmsman concentrate on driving the boat through the waves. On this particular day we were in the open water of Georgian Bay, exposed to a 150-mile fetch, with winds at 20-knots and seas at four to six feet and building. Fortunately we took them on our starboard bow quarter and not head-on. Even in these conditions the fuel economy of the E-TEC tended to be around 2.2-MPG.
In comparison, with the older motor we would have been constantly adjusting the throttle to maintain boat speed, and the fuel economy would have been more like 1.5-MPG. The E-TEC is a fabulous improvement.
The fuel costs in this area of Ontario, Canada were about $4.50 per gallon. If we use an average figure of 1.8-MPG for the old motor, it would have burned about 119-gallons of fuel. We used only 76-gallons, thus we saved about 43-gallons of fuel. This represents a savings of about $194 in fuel costs on this single trip.
Not only is it nice to save a substantial amount of money in the fuel costs, but it is also satisfying to reduce our fuel consumption over 36-percent on the basis of consuming less of a scarce resource, gasoline fuel. We also produce substantially lower emissions, as the exhaust output of the E-TEC reduces the level of controlled exhaust emissions by over 80-percent. Our emission output was further reduced by the use of less fuel. Thus on this trip our emission output was reduced by about 88-percent compared to the emission output that would have occurred with the old engine. Or put another way, if we had run the old motor we would have produced nine times more pollution output from the engine into the atmosphere.
After 100-hours of operation of this 2010 E-TEC 225-HP the fuel economy provided has been outstanding. The E-TEC engine has performed beautifully.
SJUAE posted 08-18-2010 07:05 PM ET (US)
Jim
I think it should be 2.0 MPG for your old engine :)
Else
Impressive results
Regards
Steve
onlyawhaler posted 08-18-2010 11:45 PM ET (US)
Thanks for the stats Jim, great motor, great technology. It would be my first choice in a new repower
Sterling
Onlyawhaler
jimh posted 08-19-2010 02:02 PM ET (US)
When the impact of fuel economy really started to sink in for me was in 2008. That summer we were buying gasoline at about $5.80-per-gallon. We had to move the boat upwind into some big head seas, and at a comfortable speed, about 12- to 14-MPH, the old engine was burning fuel at a rate of about 10-gallons per hour, giving a fuel economy of about 1.2-MPG. That worked out to a cost to move the boat of almost $5 per mile. I was thinking, hey, I only want to go ten miles and it is going to cost me $50 to move this boat. I began to think that if boating was going to cost $5-per-mile, I may not be able to afford to go boating any more.
On this last trip, we bought fuel at $4.50-gallon, and most of the time we could operate at 2.5-MPG or more. That works out to a cost to move the boat per mile of about $1.80. That figure is much more in line with my resources and with my boating psyche. On shorter trips, where we can put fuel into the boat tank from a highway fuel station, we can cut the fuel cost down to about $2.80-gallon. If we spend some time moving the boat at slower speeds we can move the fuel economy up to 3-MPG average. Now we are boating at 93-cents-per mile. This cost is much more in-line with my resources and my boating psyche.
SJUAE posted 08-19-2010 08:38 PM ET (US)
No doubt those savings helped pay for your new HDS-8 :)
Regards
Steve
jimh posted 09-06-2010 06:48 PM ET (US)
Recently we took another long trip with the E-TEC 225-HP powering the boat. The data are
MILES = 263.4
HOURS = 15.5
GALLONS = 99.5
This produces the following averages
MPG = 2.65
MPH = 17
GPH = 6.4

We were boating in the Isle Royale National Park. This is the most remote National Park in the United States, and as you might imagine, fuel for boats comes at a considerable premium. We had to pay $5.40-per-gallon. The added fuel economy of the BRP Evinrude E-TEC was very much appreciated on this trip.
Most of our time underway we were operating on plane and in the open water of Lake Superior, where we had some significant waves to deal with. This resulted in most of the running being at less than peak fuel economy--we were glad to give up a bit in MPG to reach a more comfortable speed.
Basshole posted 09-16-2010 12:47 AM ET (US)
Jim, thanks for posting the [data]. I have the same motor but do not have my I-Command gauge installed yet. When I get around to installing it--probably won't be 'til winter--I'd like to compare [data] since we obviously have different hulls, loads and possibly props. It's good to see that your motor is getting great fuel economy.

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Author	Topic: E-TEC 225-HP Fuel Economy
jimh	posted 08-18-2010 08:18 AM ET (US) Here is some fuel consumption data for my 2010 E-TEC 225-HP engine taken from our recent six-day, five-night cruise of northern Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. The overall distance, fuel, and time were MILES = 213.5 GALS = 76.46 HOURS = 18.1 giving trip average values of MPG = 2.8 GPH = 4.2 MPH = 11.8 For the most part the sea conditions were very favorable and we could operate the boat on-plane at optimum settings. For example, we found the following conditions very good for fuel economy: RPM = 3700 MPH = 26.2 MPG = 2.8 LOAD = 35 (this is a parameter shown by the engine in its electronic instrumentation which is proportional to throttle setting) RPM =3500 MPH = 25.1 MPG = 2.85 LOAD = 34 These values are substantially better than we could ever obtain with the old 1992 Evinrude V6 225-HP carburetor motor, which would peak at about 2.0-MPH under the best conditions with the sort of load we had that day. With the E-TEC we are now able to operate at optimum cruise at 2.85-MPG, which is an improvement of 0.85-MPG, or an increase in fuel economy on plane of 0.85/2.0 or 43-percent. Not all of the time was spent at these optimum conditions. One afternoon due to winds and waves we had to make a passage of about 25-miles upwind and against head seas which reduced our speed to about 14-MPH, a point were the boat operates rather inefficiently. The E-TEC ran wonderfully in these conditions, operating at about 3000 to 3100-RPM. The ability of the E-TEC to maintain a constant engine speed as the load on the boat varies with its attitude in the waves is a very important asset. It relives the helmsman of making constant throttle adjustments to the engine speed, letting the helmsman concentrate on driving the boat through the waves. On this particular day we were in the open water of Georgian Bay, exposed to a 150-mile fetch, with winds at 20-knots and seas at four to six feet and building. Fortunately we took them on our starboard bow quarter and not head-on. Even in these conditions the fuel economy of the E-TEC tended to be around 2.2-MPG. In comparison, with the older motor we would have been constantly adjusting the throttle to maintain boat speed, and the fuel economy would have been more like 1.5-MPG. The E-TEC is a fabulous improvement. The fuel costs in this area of Ontario, Canada were about $4.50 per gallon. If we use an average figure of 1.8-MPG for the old motor, it would have burned about 119-gallons of fuel. We used only 76-gallons, thus we saved about 43-gallons of fuel. This represents a savings of about $194 in fuel costs on this single trip. Not only is it nice to save a substantial amount of money in the fuel costs, but it is also satisfying to reduce our fuel consumption over 36-percent on the basis of consuming less of a scarce resource, gasoline fuel. We also produce substantially lower emissions, as the exhaust output of the E-TEC reduces the level of controlled exhaust emissions by over 80-percent. Our emission output was further reduced by the use of less fuel. Thus on this trip our emission output was reduced by about 88-percent compared to the emission output that would have occurred with the old engine. Or put another way, if we had run the old motor we would have produced nine times more pollution output from the engine into the atmosphere. After 100-hours of operation of this 2010 E-TEC 225-HP the fuel economy provided has been outstanding. The E-TEC engine has performed beautifully.
SJUAE	posted 08-18-2010 07:05 PM ET (US) Jim I think it should be 2.0 MPG for your old engine :) Else Impressive results Regards Steve
onlyawhaler	posted 08-18-2010 11:45 PM ET (US) Thanks for the stats Jim, great motor, great technology. It would be my first choice in a new repower Sterling Onlyawhaler
jimh	posted 08-19-2010 02:02 PM ET (US) When the impact of fuel economy really started to sink in for me was in 2008. That summer we were buying gasoline at about $5.80-per-gallon. We had to move the boat upwind into some big head seas, and at a comfortable speed, about 12- to 14-MPH, the old engine was burning fuel at a rate of about 10-gallons per hour, giving a fuel economy of about 1.2-MPG. That worked out to a cost to move the boat of almost $5 per mile. I was thinking, hey, I only want to go ten miles and it is going to cost me $50 to move this boat. I began to think that if boating was going to cost $5-per-mile, I may not be able to afford to go boating any more. On this last trip, we bought fuel at $4.50-gallon, and most of the time we could operate at 2.5-MPG or more. That works out to a cost to move the boat per mile of about $1.80. That figure is much more in line with my resources and with my boating psyche. On shorter trips, where we can put fuel into the boat tank from a highway fuel station, we can cut the fuel cost down to about $2.80-gallon. If we spend some time moving the boat at slower speeds we can move the fuel economy up to 3-MPG average. Now we are boating at 93-cents-per mile. This cost is much more in-line with my resources and my boating psyche.
SJUAE	posted 08-19-2010 08:38 PM ET (US) No doubt those savings helped pay for your new HDS-8 :) Regards Steve
jimh	posted 09-06-2010 06:48 PM ET (US) Recently we took another long trip with the E-TEC 225-HP powering the boat. The data are MILES = 263.4 HOURS = 15.5 GALLONS = 99.5 This produces the following averages MPG = 2.65 MPH = 17 GPH = 6.4 We were boating in the Isle Royale National Park. This is the most remote National Park in the United States, and as you might imagine, fuel for boats comes at a considerable premium. We had to pay $5.40-per-gallon. The added fuel economy of the BRP Evinrude E-TEC was very much appreciated on this trip. Most of our time underway we were operating on plane and in the open water of Lake Superior, where we had some significant waves to deal with. This resulted in most of the running being at less than peak fuel economy--we were glad to give up a bit in MPG to reach a more comfortable speed.
Basshole	posted 09-16-2010 12:47 AM ET (US) Jim, thanks for posting the [data]. I have the same motor but do not have my I-Command gauge installed yet. When I get around to installing it--probably won't be 'til winter--I'd like to compare [data] since we obviously have different hulls, loads and possibly props. It's good to see that your motor is getting great fuel economy.