Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, is getting 10 electric ferries for its public city fleet as part of efforts to decarbonise the city. The city will receive support from green technology company, ABB.
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What is Happening?
- Public ferry company Transtejo says that these electric ferries will commence service between 2022 and 2024 as it retires non-electric ferries used to transport people across Lisbon’s Tagus River.
- ABB will provide “a fully integrated electric power solution and an integrated marine and propulsion automation system,” batteries and all, for the ferries. The battery packs will have 1 860 kWh of energy storage capacity.
- According to the Maritime Battery Forum, there are 130+ battery-powered ferries in operation around the world. With the addition of 10 for Lisbon, this is a 7.7% increase in battery-electric ferries worldwide. There is still much work to do in this area but this is a positive development for the industry.
- The electric ferries headed to Lisbon are expected to cut CO2 emissions by 6 500 tons a year, similar to taking 1 400 gas-powered cars off the road.
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Antonio Pacheco, Director of GRP Division, Astilleros Gondán, says, “cutting greenhouse gas emissions are top priorities in urban planning. Today, the technologies chosen for fast ferries operating so close to the heart of the city must be clean and green, as well as proven in terms of safety and reliability. ABB has been selected both on the grounds of energy efficiency and its extensive experience in delivering all-electric and hybrid propulsion solutions to the ferry market.”
- In 2019, the world’s largest electric ferry entered into service in Denmark. Its route is seven times longer than any other e-ferry route and it is able to carry 200 passengers as well as 30 cars or 5 trucks.
- Ferries represent just 3% of vessels worldwide. However, in 2018 they accounted for 10% of CO2 emissions from all ships in the EU-MRV (the European regulation number 757 on Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of CO2 emissions).
Featured image by: Flickr
