Haswing Ultima 3 – The EPropulsion Spirit Plus Alternative

The Haswing Ultima 3 is our direct alternative to the EPropulsion Spirit Plus which you might well be considering for your boat.

However, we believe that the Ultima 3 has several advantages over the Spirit 3 which in our opinion makes it the better buy overall.

• Pricing
  • The Ultima motor with battery costs £1,570 inc VAT compared to the circa £1,800 inc VAT for the Spirit Plus
  • The Ultima battery costs £540 for 1,030Wh vs circa £900 inc VAT for the Spirit Plus
  • An Ultima spare 9.3″ propeller costs £21.80 while the Spirit Plus costs a minimum of £50
  • Significant savings for the Ultima
• Weight
  • The Ultima weighs in at a featherlight 15.9kg against the 19.5kg of the Epropulsion Spirit Plus
  • Components
    • The Ultima motor weighs 10.9kg compared to 10.6kg for the Spirit Plus
    • The Ultima Battery weighs 5kg compared to 9.7kg for the Spirit Plus
  • The Ultima is even easier to transport and fit on to your boat
• Batteries
  • Spare batteries for the Ultima are 1,030Wh compared to the larger 1,276Wh of the Spirit Plus
  • But, I found the battery very fiddly to fit on the Spirit Plus.
    • Trying to attach the short lead between the battery and motor was really quite tedious.
    • The Spirit Plus carrying handle is at the back with the latch at the front which requires leaning over the transom to fit it and is definitely a 2 handed job
    • The Spirit Plus locating slot sre underneath which are quite difficult to line up on a bouncing small boat!
    • Motorboat and Yachting Magazine commented that the battery on the Ultima 3 was the easiest of all to fit in their group test! Simply slide it onto the rails with a single hand!
  • The Ultima is a 30V battery compared to the 44.8V Spirit Plus
  • The Ultima battery is far lighter, far cheaper and easier to fit
• Props
  • The Ultima uses a smaller 3 blade prop of 9.3″ diameter compared to the 2 blade 11″ diameter of the Spirit Plus
  • The maximum RPM of the Ultima is 1,530 compared to 1,200 of the Spirit Plus
  • This means the Ultima can use slightly shallower water in conjunction with its more adjustable tilt profile (below)
• Tilt / trim position
  • The Ultima has 7 tilt positions compared to the 5 positions for the Spirit Plus
  • The tilt process on the Ultima is very easy and accessible
  • We found the Spirit Plus tilt mechanism using a split ring quite awkward to use – the same as with the Torqeedo 1103
• Shaft length
  • The Ultima shaft length is measured from the top of the transom bracket to the centreline of the prop as is the Spirit 3
  • The Ultima is therefore the equivalent of the Spirit Plus Short shaft
•  Charging
  • Both motors can be charged while being used as they both have external charging ports

As you can see, the two products are in fact pretty close overall BUT the Ultima will provide you with the same user experience while saving you hundreds of pounds, especially if you buy a spare battery for both:

An Ultima 3.0 plus spare battery costs £2,110 inc VAT compared to £2,700 inc VAT for the Spirit Plus – a nearly £600 difference which is a huge saving of over 20%. When you also then consider the ongoing cost of replacement props the value gap widens even further.

Finally you might say, “but Haswing is a Chinese manufacturer”.

Well, so is Epropulsion being originally in Hong Kong and now in mainland China!

Both are very good quality, well made products so it really doesn’t matter that they are made in China.

Contact us now to try the Ultima 3.0 from our Lymington base.