The world’s largest battery-electric ship is charging up.
The Australian-built Hull 096 contains a 40 megawatt-hour energy storage system, enough to power about four US homes for a year. That vast amount of energy will, because of the ship’s size and speed, only be enough for 90 minutes’ travel: It is designed to carry up to 2,100 passengers and 225 cars on a roughly 40-mile journey between ports in Argentina and Uruguay before charging up again in 40 minutes.
Batteries are still much less energy-dense than diesel fuel, so long-haul shipping remains implausible, but Hull 096 will “test the limits of maritime electrification,” IEEE Spectrum wrote.
China, Norway, and the US are also racing to build electric ferries.