Green Development Opportunities: Electrical Vessels

I. A breakthrough in vessel electrification is emerging

At present, the development of electric vessels in Europe is relatively good. Statistics on the sub-regional structure of global electric vessels (in operation + ordered) show that there are about 466 electric vessels in Europe, of which 259 are in the Norwegian market, accounting for about 33% of the global share, and there are about 114 electric ships in the Asian market. Electric propulsion is dominated by hybrid technology, and the share of pure electric vessels will increase in the future. Divided by battery technology, hybrid HEV technology is still dominant among electric vessels, with a share of about 52%.

Norway is currently the country with the largest number of large electric vessels operating in the world. With state support and vessel companies continuing to upgrade their technologies, overseas markets will remain the main battlefield for vessel electrification in the future. From the perspective of application scenarios, overseas electric ships have begun to penetrate from “consumer goods” scenarios to “economical and practical” scenarios, that is, from small luxury cruise ships, passenger vessels and other vessel types that require higher system stability and comfort to engineering vessels and coastal rescue vessels, cargo vessels, etc.

II. Vessel electrification embraces the “Blue ocean”

1. Electric vessels: “Three electricity” upgrade

The “three-power system” of electric vessels is the core equipment and the main aspect of technological upgrading. The core system of electric ships consists of three parts: marine battery system, electronic control system and electric propulsion system. Technical upgrades mainly focus on the “three electric systems”, including battery system, battery management system, networking and control technology, etc. The continuous optimization is committed to reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

2. The battery system

Battery is the power source of electric vessels. It dominates both performance and cost. It usually needs to have characteristics such as high consistency, high safety, high performance, and long life. The battery system is combined with the BMS to achieve stable and efficient operation.

3. Shore power system

Shore power system: core supporting equipment to expand the application range of electric ships.

The use of shore power is an effective way to accelerate the electrification transformation of vessels. The shore power system refers to the system that the port supplies power to the ship during normal operation and docking, including shore-based power supply, shore power connection and vessel power receiving system. With voltage 1KV as the dividing line, shore power systems are divided into high-voltage shore power systems and low-voltage shore power systems.

Promoting green transformation has become a consensus among mainstream countries around the world. The shipping industry is one of the important scenarios for carbon reduction in the transportation field. Globally, transportation is the third largest carbon emission area after electricity and industry, accounting for about 21%. Electrical vessels should be developed to reduce carbon emissions and pollution.