A 130-metre-long ship recently built in Australia is the largest fully electric ship in the world. Its launch marks a milestone in the progress towards the transition to clean energy in maritime transport. The battery-powered ship will be based in South America, where it will sail between Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Uruguay. It has the capacity to carry up to 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles.
The ship has a capacity of 40 megawatt-hours in its energy storage system, which comes from more than 250 metric tonnes of batteries. This is four times more than any previous electric ship. The CEO of the shipbuilding company said: ‘We are not just building a ship, we are building the future.’ The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated that the transition to cleaner fuels for ships will be essential to minimise emissions. The launch of the largest electric ship could contribute to this by inspiring more fleet owners to make the transition to electric ships in the future. ‘Ferries play a key role in meeting the growing demand for environmentally sustainable transport options, and the electrification of ships is a key solution for the sector to make the transition to clean energy.’