World's First Battery Powered Ferry

[Larken]

All transport going electric, besides rockets, is Elon's goal. We just got one step closer. Article is new but apparently the ferry's been in use for a few months now.
Ship Photos of the Day - Worlds First Battery Powered Ferry - gCaptain

(I don't know where this belongs on TMC, but I'm sure many investors will be as excited as I am seeing this :smile:, feel free to move it moderators.)

 

[Yggdrasill]

Some more articles (google translated and reverse chronological):

Now the battery-ferry is charging more than she needs
The battery-ferry isn't isn't receiving enough power
This ferry is revolutionary, but the passengers don't notice
Zero emissions ferry is named "Ampere"
This is how the world's first battery ferry will be

 

[uselesslogin]

So 150 kwh for a crossing and a 10 minute fast charge. Is that a 900kw supercharger they have?

 

[stevezzzz]

This is so cool. Note that in addition to 1000kWh of on-board batteries the ferry operator has installed 350kWh stationary battery banks on each pier, because there wasn't enough instantaneous power available to re-charge the ferry's on-board batteries sufficiently in the 10-minute docking window specified in their service contract.

 

[Yggdrasill]

So 150 kwh for a crossing and a 10 minute fast charge. Is that a 900kw supercharger they have?

One of the articles I linked to says they could charge 200 kWh at each landing and the effective charge time is around 9.5 minutes. That suggests the charger is around 1250 kW (or 1.25C).

- - - Updated - - -

And one interesting fact is that of the list of promising crossings for electrification, this particular crossing came 23rd out of 40, due to the weak grid.

Everyone is expecting this ferry to be the first of many.

- - - Updated - - -

Electric crewless cargo ships have also been proposed:

This ship is zero emission and doesn't have any people on board

 

[stevezzzz]

It's also interesting to note that in order to keep to the schedule, it's almost more important to get the ferry 'plugged in' and charging than it is to start off-loading the cars.

 

[Beckler]

Great! How long is this crossing?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Hmm. I thought Bjørn went on a small battery-powered ferry in one of his Tesla videos. Admittedly, it was just to cross a river, but IIRC, it was battery-powered and it ferried him across.

 

[hobbes]

Recently went on a small tourist lake cruise in the Black Forest (Titisee) and was surprised the boat (for 125 people) was so quiet and no exhaust - sure enought, when I asked it was electric. The captain didn´t know anything about the battery tech, but he said they only have to charge at night for multiple trips during the day (half an hour each). Bootsbetrieb Schweizer in Titisee im Schwarzwald

Reading the web site, they have had the boat since 1972. But technically, no ferry .

 

[Lessmog]

Also not quite a ferry but a shuttle-boat:
M/S Sjövägen won Stockholm Regional Coucil's Environment Prize this week as "an innovation applicable within several branches of activities and contributing to reaching the Regional Council's environmental goals".
Sjövägen


Carries 150 persons, 25 bicycles, 5 prams and 5 wheelchairs across Stockholm's inner waters. Regular bus/train cards are valid. Runs silently on two 125 kW electric motors and a 500 kWh battery pack, powered by 100% green electricity. Hull is optimized for low swell and good ice performance. Sjövägen is a welcome relief to public transportation while the hub Slussen is being rebuilt over the next decade or so.

One of the landing docks, Dalénum, came a bit loose last week, temporarily disrupting traffication, but that's got nothing to do with the boat as such.

Sjövägen
(brief in English)
http://www.sjovagen.nu/getfile.ashx?cid=155743&cc=4&refid=1 (more detailed pdf, in Swedish)

 

[Yggdrasill]

The cranes of this ship will generate power when the load is lowered.

Another new application for batteries. I don't think we need to worry about the Gigafactory being too big.

 

[GSP]

Not Exactly the "World's First"

Not even Norway's first, as this smaller ferry has been in service since September 2013:

Scandinavias First Lithium Battery Electric Car Ferry Completes Over 4,000 Trips

GSP