Adventure cruise company Hurtigruten Norway today revealed plans for a zero-emissions electric cruise ship with retractable sails covered in solar panels, which is due to set sail in 2030. The company currently has a fleet of eight ships, each with a capacity of 500 passengers, that travel along the Norwegian coast from Oslo to the Arctic Circle…
The resulting design will run predominantly off 60 megawatt batteries that can be charged in port with clean energy, as renewables account for 98% of Norway’s electricity system. Gerry Larsson-Fedde, SVP of marine operations for Hurtigruten Norway, who came up with the idea of a zero-emission ship, estimates that the batteries will have a range of 300 to 350 nautical miles, meaning that during an 11-day round trip, one liner would have to charge around seven or eight times.
To reduce reliance on the battery, when it’s windy, three retractable sails – or wings – will rise out of the deck, reaching a maximum height of 50 meters. They can adjust independently, shrinking to pass under bridges or changing their angle to catch the most wind, explains Larsson-Fedde. He adds that the sails will be covered in a total of 1,500 square meters of solar panels that will generate energy to top up the batteries while sailing – and the battery levels will be displayed on the ship’s side.
Hull 096 as it’s currently known, is being built by Incat in Hobart, Tasmania, a long way from its final destination in South America. It will eventually carry passengers across the Río de la Plata, between Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and Uruguay.
The journey across the river is about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometres) and will take just over an hour. That’s going to require some serious batteries, that are able to keep Hull 096 running for 90 minutes. Superfast chargers will be installed on both sides of the river, with a full recharge taking 60 to 90 minutes…
It’s not just one big battery powering this ship, it’s more than 5,000 battery modules stacked together, weighing a total of 280 tonnes and delivering 43 megawatt hours…There are four rooms that will house the batteries, which will be stacked on top of each other, from the floor to the roof.
A union has called for e-bikes to be banned from the London Underground after one exploded on a Tube station platform. The incident at Rayners Lane station sent toxic fumes billowing across the station and caused temporary disruption to the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines.
A cyclist was wheeling the bike towards a train and was about to board when it exploded… ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, is now threatening strike action unless Transport for London bans e-bikes. The RMT, the biggest Tube union, and the TSSA are also demanding that TfL introduces a ban.
Alaskans can still bring electric vehicles up by ferry, though it can take longer. The Alaska Marine Highway System limits its policy to two electric vehicles per sailing…
Dapcevich says it’s not just the fire that makes EVs high risk, especially on a passenger vessel like a state ferry. “It’s the toxic fumes, and you’re in an enclosed space, and they can travel into through the ventilation system in the vessel,” Dapcevich says. “They can travel into passenger spaces, and so it’s just a very dangerous situation to have an EV fire on a boat. And that’s part of why we limit it.”
I asked this question in a similar thread - any insight as to the cause? It isn’t as if these EVs are spontaneously combusting on dealer lots so why on ships?
Good question, although Hertz had a couple go up in flames a couple of weeks ago in San Diego.
There might be manufacturing defects that show up later after the cars have seen some wear-and-tear. Of course, there have also been several fires at sea on boats carrying new EVs. Was there a salt air connection? I wonder if insurance companies are doing some investigations.
And … is there real cause? Did it happen once and spook everyone? Or did someone just read about a problem fire involving an EV and say “Gee, that would be bad on-board”? And what are the risks and frequency of ICE by comparison?
There are certainly fires on board boats with conventional cars, which is why the carriers have fire suppression systems and the like. The difference is that EV fires are much, much harder to put out.
