Hybrid and electric vessels are under the spotlight lately, thanks to intensified efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions from global shipping, a significant source of CO2 and other pollutants. There are already several offerings of such green ships in Europe, and a Danish operator is ready to pave the way for the widespread use of fully electric powered vessels in the ferry sector.
Supported by the EU-funded E-ferry project, project partner Aeroe (Ærø) Kommune's vessel will cover distances of over 20 NM between charges. The novel all-electric ferry is set to have the largest battery pack installed at sea.
Hope they have maritime Triple-A standing by to tow them back to port...
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A Step Toward Fully Electric Ferries
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(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday May 26 2019, @02:45AM (2 children)
It's a long time past [electricferret.com], but probably still of some entertainment value.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Sunday May 26 2019, @06:16AM (1 child)
I first thought "electric fairies".
Like Tinkerbell, I guess, but I'm not sure I want to know where the batteries go...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @12:13PM
SoyEds fall for yet another ass-turf advertising campaign! Electric Fairies, which strangely co-incides with the threatre release of the new Elton John bio-pic? Coincidence? I think not! Shame, SoyEds, shame!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday May 26 2019, @03:33AM (1 child)
Think roads are bad? I mean, trains are much more efficient than trucks at moving mass around. Avoids the significant energy losses from tires, and putting a lot of rail cars in a line has to be a lot better for aerodynamics.
But pushing air aside takes way less energy than pushing through water. The only way water transport can be reasonably energy efficient is traveling down a river, or cultivating a lot of patience to wait for favorable winds and currents. It's impressive that energy storage is sufficiently dense now to power a ship at the speeds that users of water transport expect, basically the fastest speeds that ships can be made to go without ruinous expense. The fastest ship ever is this new ferry ship, the Francisco, which can go 100 kph. More typical tops speeds for modern ships are about 30 knots (55 kph).
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday May 26 2019, @04:29AM
Or by not having much up and down, little turning, nor any rolling friction. Needless to say, water travel is very efficient compared to the other methods (road and rail you mentioned), but kind of slow.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @04:08AM (1 child)
Forgot the name, but in some places there are ferries powered by the current of the river. A long cable is anchored upstream and the ferry is cabled to the anchor like a kite. Movable surfaces (like rudders) on the ferry react against the current and propel it back and forth in an arc. As long as the anchor and cable hold, it's guaranteed to make the docks on either side.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Dr Spin on Sunday May 26 2019, @08:35AM
In Europe we had wind-powered cargo vessels (called Thames Barges in the UK, and Dutch barges in the Netherlands) until the 1970's. They were relatively slow, but cheap to run. However, with commercial bank interest at 28% in the 1980's, and cheap diesel, they were abandoned in favour of road transport. They are capable of about 12kts (15MPH) but are unlikely to do that kind of speed when operated commercially. However, road transport in London averages 7MPH, and with diesel at about EUR1.5 per litre, they would probably be competitive today. Load capacity about 6 off 40foot containers, capable of self loading, crew typically two.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Sunday May 26 2019, @08:49AM (1 child)
Range anxiety and recharging on turnaround probably still a major issue, but someday someone will figure out that instead of having a windmill in the sea to charge a battery on the ship you could just put the windmill on the ship itself and have truly green shipping with effectively infinite range. You could call them wind-ships or something. If only we'd realised the possibilities years ago, think where we'd be now...
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 26 2019, @05:27PM
I can hardly wait for all of the pending autopilot-related accidents that are going to shit up this boat concept like they shitted up electric automobiles.
(Score: 1) by doke on Sunday May 26 2019, @04:46PM
What's the recharge time? That will strongly affect the number of trips the ferry can make per day.