Havyard delivers another battery-run ferry

Introduction of ferries running on battery power on this route is estimated to have reduced ferry emissions by 90% compared with conventional fuels, saving 8,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year.
The design of the fuel-efficient digital ferries has been developed by Havyard using detailed weather data from the region, collected from masts and buoys around the fjord, part of a NOK 100 million investment by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. Data that has not previously been available include details of wind, current, temperature, wave height and wave length. By modelling the fjord conditions in a virtual test tank, the hull form could be optimised based on these data together with operating profile and docking frequency.
Havyard’s R&D manager, Kristian Steinsvik, commented: “In this way, we have managed to develop ferries with extremely low energy consumption using a battery system that is not only designed for fair weather, but also enables fully electric operation in rough weather.”