Australia's Incat Tasmania to deliver the world's largest battery electric ship
Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania, a leading the world in producing pure-electric lightweight zero-emission ferries, has under construction the largest lightweight battery electric ship (130 m in length) so far constructed in the world for delivery to its South American customer, Buquebus. This ship, the world’s largest battery-electric Ro-Pax ferry, will be 100% battery electric. The energy storage system (ESS) battery storage at over 40MWh will be four times larger than any battery installation that has been constructed and installed anywhere in the world for the marine transport environment. The batteries power a series of E-motors which drive the water jet propulsion system. The electrical system integration is by Wärtsilä and ESS by Corvus Energy, the shipbuilder said.
The Incat Hull 096 will have a capacity for 2100 passengers and crew, 225 cars
The interest in these battery electric ships is very positive and Incat is now working toward the construction of its second but smaller battery-electric vehicle/passenger ferry.
The Australian Federal Government has a clear plan for decarbonising the economy and with 100% renewable energy and already net zero emissions having been achieved here in Tasmania we are ideally placed to build zero emission ships for the world right here.
In fact due to Tasmania already having achieved overall net zero emissions we are the only location on the planet that is able to construct zero-emission, battery electric ships in an already net zero emissions environment for our customers”.
Aluminium is lightweight without sacrificing strength, it’s one third the weight of steel, however after design factors the finished weight of an INCAT aluminium ship will be around HALF that of steel. Incat is currently 100% export focused, the 130-metre ferry will operate in Argentina, large Ro-Pax vessels up to 112 metres length operate in waters around Europe, the UK, Asia and South America. In Australia Incat ferries built as early as the 1980’s can still be found operating off the Queensland coast, there are two passenger craft with Port Philip Ferries, and eleven on Sydney Harbour however none of the large vehicle/passenger ferries operate in Australian waters. The shipyard located on Hobart’s Derwent River has undercover building halls to accommodate several vessels under construction simultaneously.
