Energy storage on yangtze river freight ships

How much power does the Yangtze River ship have?

The 120 meter long ship has a fully electric drive with 1,800 [kW] of total installed power. It is able to swap battery packs en route, enabling it to covering over 600 nautical miles of routes on the Yangtze River fully electrically without having to moor and recharge.

Will the Yangtze ship be electrified?

A sister ship will be launched shortly, and the plan is for vessels on the entire Yangtze to be electrified. As half of the world’s inland shipping is in China, and the Yangtze is by far the biggest inland shipping route, that means that this ship is the lead vessel in electrification of about half of all inland shipping.

How much does a battery pack cost on the Yangtze River?

It is able to swap battery packs en route, enabling it to covering over 600 nautical miles of routes on the Yangtze River fully electrically without having to moor and recharge. Total costs for the battery pack are estimated at €16-€25M, which could be reduced as certain propulsion equipment is not required.

Will the Yangtze River run all the way on batteries?

It’s not going to run all the way on batteries it carries onboard, of course. Battery energy density is increasingly good and will be multiples of today’s in the coming years, but steaming 1,000 km upstream, even in the 3.6-kilometer-per-hour average water speed of the Yangtze, is a huge energy requirement.

Will a 700-mile electric-drive-only container ship ply the Yellow Sea?

And now, a proof point. The Yangzhou shipyard in northern China, inland from Shanghai on the Yangtze River, just launched an electric-drive-only 700 container ship which will ply a regular 1,000-km (600-mile) route up and down the river and to the world’s largest container port on the Yellow Sea.

How long is a Yangtze river boat?

The vessel is a 10,000-DWT specific route river/coastal vessel - or feeder ship type - with a length of 119.8 [m] and a moulded beam of 23.6 [m]. It has a design draft of 5.5 [m] feet to provide good manoeuvrability along the Yangtze river, designed to sail a route stretching more than 600 miles along the river and to the sea.