Oru Kayak is known as a supplier of compact, portable craft. Recently, the company has started offering an equally compact, portable electric propulsion system for this. In cooperation with Bixpy, Oru Kayak developed an electric drive system that is easy to transport and assemble. This allows greater distances to be covered with less paddling.
Over the years, Oru Kayak has expanded its original concept of an origami-inspired folding kayak into an impressive range of kayaks of various sizes and styles. Adding electric propulsion to these folding boats required some additional engineering. For example, a kayak does not have a transom to which a motor can be attached.
Oru teamed up with the e-drive experts at Bixpy to get around this problem. Bixpy already had a universal electric motor with the K-1 Outboard. This has now been extended with an attachment for Oru's kayaks. The attachment attaches to the base of the kayak, whether it is folded up as a carry system or unfolded as a full kayak. The motor drive slides and locks into place and can be easily removed when not needed.
On the water, the Bixpy K-1 is powered by the included Outboard Power Pack, which has an estimated run time of between 80 minutes and 12 hours, depending on the speed selected by the paddler. The kayaker controls the speeds via a simple Bluetooth remote control. The remote control and power pack remain afloat in case of a flip or crash.
Weighing just 4.5 kilograms for the motor and power pack, the Bixpy e-drive is designed to complement the lightweight, compact and portable nature of Oru's kayak line. It is even lighter than the aforementioned ePropulsion eLite outboard motor, which weighs 6.8 kilograms.
Accessibility has always been a key mission of Oru, and the original origami kayak design was intended to increase accessibility for urban paddlers who may not have storage space or means of transportation for traditional fixed-hull kayaks. The company sees the Bixpy motor option as a further extension of this mission, to give more options to users who physically cannot paddle as far as they would like and could use a motor boost.
