CATL presents complete solution for battery-electric ships

CATL, which is primarily known until now for its EV batteries, sees significant future potential in expanding its offerings from land-based mobility to waterways. The company aims to provide the global shipping industry with a new green, intelligent and sustainable development path. CATL expects that battery-electric ships will soon be active not only on rivers, lakes and harbours, but on the oceans.

Su Yiyi, Head of CATL’s Marine Division, stated at Marintec China: “CATL’s marine business already covers inland rivers, lakes and coastal waters and is now evolving towards deep-sea applications. In the near future – possibly within the next three years – we will see fully electric ships on the open sea.”

Ships with a fragmented supplier system

According to CATL, the shipping industry currently faces a fundamental challenge: propulsion, energy supply and maintenance of a ship are typically managed by different partners, leading to coordination issues and unclear responsibilities. Additionally, battery-electric ships face high acquisition costs, a lack of energy infrastructure, range anxiety, complex water conditions and inconsistent technical standards.

These factors represent a major barrier to the large-scale adoption of zero-emission shipping. Moreover, technologies from road transport cannot simply be transferred to ships, as their development must account for extremely demanding conditions such as high humidity, salt spray, long operating hours and high power requirements.

CATL’s new complete solution for battery-electric ships

This is where CATL’s integrated “Ship-Shore-Cloud” solution comes into play. According to the company, it is a bespoke complete solution for the shipping industry, featuring seamless integration from onboard energy systems to landside charging and battery-swapping networks, and cloud-based intelligent management. This approach aims to eliminate the traditional weaknesses of the industry’s fragmented multi-supplier structures.

Onboard, the system integrates batteries, propulsion and intelligent navigation systems to ensure safe and stable operation. On land, a network of charging and battery-swapping stations, along with the “ship-battery separation” model, is designed to significantly reduce energy and cost risks.

CATL states that since entering the shipping sector in 2017, it has delivered nearly 900 fully electric ships equipped with its battery systems. One example is the excursion ship Yujian 77, which operates in Xiamen Bay and has already been featured by us. CATL is also proud of the Changjiang Sanxia 1, the world’s largest fully electric inland passenger ship, and the Qinggang Tug 1, China’s first hybrid tugboat. Additionally, with the Jining 6006, CATL has demonstrated that battery swapping for cargo ships is feasible.

Source: Press release via email, cleantechnica.com (quote from Su Yiyi)

This article was originally published by Florian Treiß for electrive’s German edition