Electric cargo ships with cargo as cargo? That sounds initially strange. In the Netherlands, however, will be the reality. In the Land of the countless water ways has formed a company that wants to initiate the transition of the inland waterways on the environment of operation. The idea: Container-captains are getting out their internal combustion engines from the engine room, a building instead of electric with the energy in the battery containers. To change stations, empty batteries can be exchanged against a freshly loaded.
Walter Wille
editorial “technology and Motor”
F. A. Z.
ZES – the abbreviation stands for Zero Emission Services is the company behind the financial group ING, the energy supplier Engie, the engine and equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä, the port of Rotterdam stand. The consortium is calculated on the basis of 20 million euros, total cost for the first Phase of the project for which the Dutch state provides funding.
The first all-electric single vessel will be used this year on behalf of the Heineken brewery, 2021, a further five to follow. According to the plans, a network of charging stations for the ZES-Pack above-mentioned battery container, to end up with around 20 such stations, a country-wide coverage is made. In the year 2030, the initiators hope to about 150 electric inland vessels – could be – such as conversions – with ZES-Packs on-the-go.
With this ZES-Packs, each 20 tons in weight and approximately one Million Euro tax, this is the default container full of battery cells with a total of 1960 kilowatt-hours of capacity. For comparison: The battery of a Tesla to save 90 to 100 kWh. 774 to 1004 volts is the electrical voltage, depending on the load condition. The entire control electronics, as well as a system for Heating and Cooling are also in the ZES-Packs at charging stations, similar to the ordinary Loading and Unloading of containers, the crane may be replaced, and by cable to the ship’s plugged in.
The battery lasts ZES, according to a quarter of an hour. 50 to 100 km amounts to the range of a single ship, the two battery containers on Board, depending on the flow, as well as the size and draught of the ship. In order to make boatmen of the conversion from Diesel to electric palatable to them, only power consumption and container rental fee.
