Yachts de Luxe (YdL) from Singapore wants to build the world’s first luxury boat with lithium-sulfur battery technology and against this background has signed a contract with the Li-S specialist Oxis Energy. Williams Advanced Engineering is also on board as project partner.

With everybody stuck at home, it pays to look to the wide-open waters. Or to the smaller blues of Lake Starnberg that is home base to Torqeedo. 15 years in the game, the small enterprise has become the market leader in e-mobility on water, and we wanted to discover what’s next.

ABB has secured a contract worth around 150 million US dollars to supply the complete power and drive package for cruise ships built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The electric drives will still be powered by diesel engines, but are said to reduce fuel consumption by 20%.

The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia has presented a hydrogen roadmap. Detailed targets for 2025 and 2030 are ambitious while it remains unclear, where the hydrogen will come from.

ABB Marine & Ports has selected XALT Energy to supply battery systems to power two hybrid ferries for the British ferry company P&O, which are expected to operate regularly on the English Channel between Dover in the UK and Calais in France from 2023.

The Norwegian company Freyr is planning a 32 GWh battery cell factory in Norway and has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens Energy and Elkem each on the supply of cells and anode active materials.

Plymouth Boat Trips and Voyager Marine have launched the UK’s first sea-going electric ferry, named e-Voyager. The electric ferry was developed in partnership with the University of Plymouth, the University of Exeter, Teignbridge Propellers, MarRI-UK and EV Parts. Testing is now underway.

Toyota’s modular H2 propulsion solution REXH2 will be used for another maritime application: The system will be installed in the Hynova 40, a twelve-meter yacht for up to twelve passengers. The system has already been tested on board the Energy Observer catamaran.

Danfoss Editron is supplying Energy Absolute with the electric propulsion systems for Thailand’s first fleet of all-electric passenger ferries that will operate on the Chao Phraya River. Each of the 24 meter long ferries can carry 200 passengers.

Alejandro Agag wants to establish a third racing series following the two electric car series Formula E and Extreme E, but this time with electrically powered racing boats. The series will be called E1 and does not yet have a starting date.

Danfoss Editron has received an order from the Norwegian shipyard Grovfjord Mekaniske Verksted (GMV) to supply hybrid propulsion systems for a fleet of unmanned exploration vessels. Four of the vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2021, with seven more to follow in the following months.

Corvus Energy has been contracted to supply the battery systems for five new all-electric ferries to be built by Holland Shipyards for the transport company GVB in Amsterdam. The first electric ferry should be delivered in summer next year.

The European Parliament has voted for the inclusion of CO2 emissions from maritime shipping in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to decarbonise naval transport. Now the EU Parliament is to begin negotiations with the EU states on concrete legislation.

Ballard Power Systems has just announced the introduction of a fuel cell module for the primary propulsion of ships. The new module, called FCwave, has an output of 200 kW and can be connected in series up to an output of several megawatts.

Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) recently completed the delivery of five all-electric propulsion systems for ferries operated by the Norwegian transport company Fjord1.

The Norwegian shipping company The Fjords has put a second purely electric ferry into service. After the ‘Future of the Fjords’ already went into service in 2018, the sister ship ‘Legacy of the Fjords’ will follow.

Today the European Commission has adopted the EU Strategy for Energy System Integration and Hydrogen. The former tackles charging infrastructure and grids, while the H2 Strategy focusses on long-haul and heavy-duty vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure.

In Norway, a 42-meter-long, all-electric ferry for 297 passengers will soon go into operation. The Rygerelektra, built by the Norwegian shipbuilder Brødrene Aa, will be used by ferry operator Rødne Fjord Cruise as a sightseeing ship in the coastal town of Stavanger in the south of Norway.

The German company Alva Yachts, a decidedly electric boat builder, has just launched its first electric watercraft. Alva Yachts’ debut models are the electric catamarans Ocean Eco 60 and Ocean Eco 90 and the hybrid sailing yacht, Ocean Sail 82.

The Finnish technology group Wärtsilä is to develop two new purely electric ferries kitted out with the company’s drives. The ships will be built for the Norwegian operator Boreal Sjö by shipbuilder Holland Shipyards in the Netherlands.

The Liverpool-based boat builder Water Witch has announced that it will replace its existing outboard motors with electric drives from Torqeedo. The company has been building specialized cleaning boats for over 50 years and uses around 200 workboats to remove waste and refuse in harbours and waterways around the world.

Danfoss will supply the Danish shipbuilder and operator MHO-Co with hybrid drive systems for the first two so-called Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) in the UK. Also, the Danish technology group announces the signing of a contract with Infineon.

Deutz has announced the restructuring of the management of its subsidiary Torqeedo. In future, Ralf Plieninger and Michael Rummel will take over management of the German company specialising in electric boat engines. Torqeedo founder Christoph Ballin will only engage in an advisory capacity.

The electric speedboat of Sweden’s Candela is the world’s first electric hydrofoil, according to the company, and as the (old) concept is still both wondrous and curious enough, they’ve now published a 40-min virtual cruise. Also note, Candela is ready to deliver.

The Norwegian shipbuilder Havyard has presented a design concept for electrically powered sightseeing ships for use in cities and fjords. The concept was developed within the framework of a cooperation agreement concluded last year with the Norwegian research organisation SINTEF.

US American shipbuilder Vigor Fab has selected ABB to supply hybrid drive and battery systems for Washington State Ferries’ newest ships. The new ‘Olympic Class’ ferries can carry up to 1,500 passengers and 144 cars.

With their newly founded joint venture Zero Emission Services (ZES), a Dutch consortium has taken up the cause of zero-emission inland container shipping. The initiators want to put the first electric ship into operation this year.

Canada’s electric boat manufacturer Templar Marine presents its latest model. The Picnic 20 is the little sister of the flagship Cruiser 26 with Torqeedo drive presented last year and prices for the 10-seater start at 49,900 Canadian dollars.

ABB has signed an MoU with Hydrogène de France (HDF) to jointly manufacture megawatt fuel cell systems for powering shipping vessels. The two partners want to optimise the production of large systems in order to be able to build fuel cell power plants in the megawatt range for ships.

The Swedish fuel cell specialist PowerCell has received an order from Bosch for fuel cell stacks with a total value of around one million euros. The order specifies PowerCell’s S3 type fuel cell stacks.