In the year 2019 there isn’t much we have left unturned. Walking on the moon – check. Controlling the world via fingertip – check. Okay, perhaps I took a leap there, but that’s not to discount the millions of hurdles accomplished along the way.
Small step for man and giant leap for humankind on both accounts. Suffice to say, while we have seen and accomplished innovations beyond what’s imaginable, I still took a double take when I read about the world’s first battery operated cruise ship. Say what?
At the time of my travels, I went on the world’s largest cruise ship. I wrote about the floating mega cities in previous posts and if that didn’t paint a picture of what advancements we are capable of, this just tipped the iceberg (maybe not the best analogy here).
The world’s first cruise ship is going to be propelled partially by battery power, heading out from Norway. The ship is named Roald Amundsen, named after the Norwegian explorer who sailed through the Northwest Passage in 1903 – 1906, the first to reach the South Pole in 1911.
The ship can accommodate 500 passengers and is designed to sail under harsh weather conditions. In early July, it sailed the Northwest Passage to Alaska, then headed south. It is destined to reach Antarctica in October.
The engines primarily run on marine gasoil, but the ship’s battery pack can exclusively run on batteries for around 45 to 60 minutes under good conditions. The company believes that the battery pack will reduce fuel consumption , saving about 20 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions.
The ship takes an excessive amount of energy from the engines and places them into the battery when the ship doesn’t need it. It then puts it back into the engine when the ship requires more energy. This significantly reduces emissions without having charging stations readily available.
Norway’s hybrid ferries and it’s growing number of electric cars inspired the company. Battery technology is helping propel ships is very new and charging stations are few and far between.
Batteries are expected to be an integral part of shipping and engineering in the future, but it doesn’t mean that ships will entirely run on batteries because the ship can sail up to 20 days in areas without charging stations. Infrastructure will improve on traditional routes along the Norwegian coast. Currently, there are only charging services in Bergen, the second largest city in Norway.
The future of batteries is also dependent upon the ability to make them smaller, lighter and more powerful. The company has another hybrid cruise ship to be released later this year. The battery pack will deliver twice the capacity of the Roald Amundsen. We cannot wait to see what the future holds.
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