While touring the Fjords in Norway, we took an opportunity to transit from Flåm to Gudvangen on an All-Electric Carbon-Fiber Ferry. I contacted the Engineering officer for a tour of the power and drive systems. He was happy to detail the superiorities over the diesel powertrains he formerly worked on.
Based on my former work with Boosted Electric, it was really interesting to discuss similar engineering challenges from a skateboard-sized scale brought to a 753ton ship-scale. (i.e cooling, cabling, waterproofing, efficiency, servicing, etc…). Perhaps I will update with deeper details at a later time
With pristine splendor like this, it’s obvious why electric can help preserve it
Catamarans are nice and steady
Completely silent, no emissions, and serves bubbly champagne.
I don’t recall the specifics but the ship sailed nominally at ~200A and 180v… so it has a ton of power to spare!
Dual 450kW main motors [600hp]- Max Speed 19.5kn
Utilizes a geared transmission for efficiency
Variable pitch propellers
Glycol cooling system, uses heat exchanger with ambient Fjord water
Batteries - 1800kWh, Range - 40kn / 2.5hrs @ 16kn
Utilized several dozen brief-cased sized bank of batteries produced by Samsung
Integrated into Glycol cooling system, in addition to Forced convection
Charging 15-25min charge time (through a motorized crane carrying really fat cables! It was apparent even those got hot enough to warm your hands on a cold day and age the rubber)
Other Specs:
Dimensions: 42m Length, 15m Width, 753 ton weight
Manufacturer: Brødene Aa AS, Built 2018
Champagne: 200 Norwegian kroners, bubbly.