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World's First Electric Cargo Ship Will Be Used to Haul Coal

posted by Fnord666 on Monday December 04 2017, @09:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the inverted-logic dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Center for American Progress reports

[...] it should be a welcome moment that China's Guangzhou Shipyard International has launched "the world's first electric ship with a capacity" of 2,200 tons, as the state-run Global Times reported1 earlier [in November].

The ship is short-haul: It can travel about 50 miles with its 1,000 lithium batteries after two-hour charge, which is the loading and unloading time for the ship, state news site ChinaNews.com reports.2 So, it can be charged while it is docking.

Sadly, the Chinese spoiled the launch of this otherwise green cargo ship by using it to transport coal for electricity generation on the Pearl River in Guangdong Province. The ship can carry up to 2,300 tons of coal, though ChinaNews.com reports such vessels could in the future be used for "passenger ships, ro-ro ships [roll-on/roll-off vessels carrying wheeled cargo] engineering vessels" and similar purposes.

[1] DNS won't resolve. Google cache.
[2] DNS won't resolve. Google cache. (Chinese)

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  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday December 04 2017, @08:01PM (2 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday December 04 2017, @08:01PM (#605244)

    Sorry, but it wouldn't work.

    A truck going downhill can use the difference in speed between the vehicle with gravity adding energy to the truck to keep it moving. A floating ship going down river is moving at effectively the same speed as the water it is floating in so there wouldn't be enough of an energy difference between the ship and water to generate any power from it.

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday December 04 2017, @08:22PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday December 04 2017, @08:22PM (#605254)

    I guess I should have mentioned the dragging would be on the river bed, since yes, the water mostly goes at drifting ship speed (localized effect do apply).

    You know, if you're gonna piss off the eco-conscious by carrying coal, you might as well kick up silt and rip the ecosystem to shreds in the process. Don't go for half-measures. Underwater "sail" for max pushing, giant teeth for max dragging, and after a few passes you'll be safe from pesky organic stuff fouling the hull of blocking the way!

  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday December 04 2017, @09:24PM

    by Arik (4543) on Monday December 04 2017, @09:24PM (#605306) Journal
    Sorry, it can work. It's done. You can go get electric motors for your yacht (if you're rich enough to own one in the first place) and you'd better believe they do their version of regenerative breaking, when power is not being applied the rotor will (slowly) turn it as a generator.

    However, despite being technically wrong, you're basically correct. There's very very little energy to be collected this way, it's a drop in the bucket at best.
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