2 ms·

You could read the article, but your numbers alone are actually pretty positive. Correct me if I'm wrong (skimming some sources and fermi estimating as I can't

You could read the article, but your numbers alone are actually pretty positive. Correct me if I'm wrong (skimming some sources and fermi estimating as I can't find it stated), but such a ship can spend about a month at sea at regular steaming speed and cover about 30,000km. It's fairly widely acknowledged that batteries are getting cheaper. If we started designing a ship now, we could plan to fill it with $50/kWh batteries and investors would not balk. Then we could cut range by an order of magnitude and still serve some routes. This takes the batteries down to roughly the cost of the ship. Slow steaming or considering more optimistic projections about sodium batteries might even halve it again. Will it compete with bunker oil for a round the world trip? No. Is it worth starting to think about? Totally.

Gwypaas 4y ago
Batteries are already being applied on smaller passenger focused routes. It has become mundane enough to not even make headlines anymore. For example the ampere was ordered in 2011 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ampere https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ampere Here's a ferry making locals news (use Google translate) which can operate for 3/4 of the day using batteries and has hybrid propulsion to optimally manage the level of charge. So no need for charging at each turnaround. https://www.sjofartstidningen.se/goteborgs-nya-elfarja-dopt/ https://www.sjofartstidningen.se/goteborgs-nya-elfarja-dopt/ Here's a conversion from diesel to electric for a larger ferry on a short route. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Tycho_Brahe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Tycho_Brahe As the systems become more efficient and batteries drop in price more maritime use cases will be enabled. It's simply all about how long between each time you can charge, and which speed you operate at.

Gwypaas 4y ago

Batteries are already being applied on smaller passenger focused routes. It has become mundane enough to not even make headlines anymore. For example the ampere was ordered in 2011 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ampere https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ampere Here's a ferry making locals news (use Google translate) which can operate for 3/4 of the day using batteries and has hybrid propulsion to optimally manage the level of charge. So no need for charging at each turnaround. https://www.sjofartstidningen.se/goteborgs-nya-elfarja-dopt/ https://www.sjofartstidningen.se/goteborgs-nya-elfarja-dopt/ Here's a conversion from diesel to electric for a larger ferry on a short route. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Tycho_Brahe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Tycho_Brahe As the systems become more efficient and batteries drop in price more maritime use cases will be enabled. It's simply all about how long between each time you can charge, and which speed you operate at.