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ELMAR online seminars

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Electric passenger ships in urban public transport - Stockholm case

The event gives insights into strategies, visions and practical experiences related to electric water mobility in Stockholm / SE, which are examined from different perspectives as a case study. Furthermore, it provides a peek into the – not too far away – future and introduces innovative solutions for waterborne public transport that will soon become available as commercial products, incl. high-speed pax vessels and autonomous marine transport systems.

View the event agenda

Please find further information in the agenda attached. In the file the presentation titles are clickable links to the presentation videos.

Watch the recordings

Welcome & introduction — Jens Masuch, Mario Heinrich, ELMAR project

Electric water mobility in Stockholm Region – experiences & visions

Policy framework — Michael Erman, Region Stockholm
Pilot: E-shuttles for commuters — Tobias Carlsson, Region Stockholm
E/S Sjovägen — Gustaf Myrsten, Rederi AB Ballerina

Innovative solutions for electric urban water transport

Electric high-speed pax ships — Hans Thornell, Green City Ferries
Autonomous water mobility — Erik Dyrkoren, Zeabuz

Summary and farewell

Take a look at particular presentations

Region Stockholm´s strategy for CO2 neutral public transport – and the role of marine e-mobility for achieving this goal

Stockholm, which is located on several islands,has the goal to become carbonneutral by 2040. A centralelement for achieving this goal is totransformthe public transport system, in which waterbornetransportationplays an important role. Already today, great parts of it operateemission freethanks to procurements with climate requirements. From2014, first steps to electrify also the waterborne public transport were taken–and further actions are planned forthe next years.

Experiences & lessons learnt from the operation of the electric commuter ferry E/S Sjövägen

Since Sept 2014, the electric pax ferry E/S Sjövägen serves the commuter line 80 that includes 10 stops in the inner city of Stockholm. The shipping company Rederi AB Ballerina, which owns and operates the vessel, will report on experiences and lessons learnt from more than 20.000 hoursof operation of the 150 pax ferry in the last 7 years.

Exploring the future of maritime public transport in Stockholm Region: High-speed electric shuttle ships for commuting

The activities of Region Stockholm include also pilot projects to explore innovative solutions. One of them isto test high-speed shuttle ships for urban commuting. Those may carry 50-150 pax at long ranges and with up to30 knots. Being designed as hydrofoils, the vessels create minimum swell–and may become a game changer for public transport in the Stockholm archipelago when coming into commercial operation in 2023.

Green City Ferries: Zero emission high-speed pax ferries

Green City Ferries is a complete electric &hydrogen transport system integrator for high-speed emission-free pax ferries and a pioneer of the segment.The company ́s journey started with retrofitting the MOVITZ–a conventional pax ship serving a commuter route in Stockholm –with a battery-electric propulsion system. In 2016, the BB Green prototype “AiriEl”was launched,the world ́s first all-electric high speed pax ferry. From 2022, Green City Ferries will start serial production of theBB Green 24, a light-weight high-speed commuter ferries for 147 passengers that maybe equipped either with a battery-electric or hydrogen propulsion system.

Zeabuz: Autonomous urban water mobility

The company Zeabuz was founded on top of the research community that created the world’s first full scale autonomous ferry prototype“milliAmpere“. Based on these experiences, the start-up develops an autonomous and fully-electric urban water mobility system, which enables 24/7 on-demand operation and integration with other smart mobility solutions. The pilot, for the creation of which Zeabuz has teamed up with the Norwegian public shipping company Torghatten AS, will be operational in summer 2022.

'Electrifying' a boating area - Amsterdam case

The second ELMAR online event on electric water mobility has its focus on leisure boating and recreational shipping. This time, we have a closer look to Amsterdam / NL, where the ban of internal combustion engines from 2025 leads to the “electrification” of an entire boating region. Besides first-hand information on the political framework for the transition to emission-free maritime traffic by the Deputy Mayor of the City of Amsterdam, Mr. Egbert de Vries, the seminar presents solutions for providing on-shore and charging infrastructure for electric vessels, as well as urban use cases and innovative rental for e-boats and e-ships in Amsterdam.

View the event agenda

Please find further information in the agenda attached. In the file the presentation titles are clickable links to the presentation videos.

Watch the recordings

Welcome & introduction — Jens Masuch, ELMAR project

The transition to electric water mobility in Amsterdam

Policy framework — Egbert de Vries, City of Amsterdam

On-shore infrastructure for e-boats & e-ships in Amsterdam

Marine charging infrastructure — Roland Steinmetz, City of Amsterdam
Mobile charging facilities — Peter Paul van Voorst, SKOON

Urban use cases for e-boats & e-ships: Innovative rental offers

Skippered e-boats — Freek van Koolbergen, BoatNow
Automated bareboat charter — Iwan de Ploeg, Sloepdelen & Let’s Book

Summary and farewell

Take a look at particular presentations

Amsterdam’s transition into an emission-free boating region by 2025: Political decisions & policy framework

The City of Amsterdam has the goal to make urban transportation completely emission-free by 2030 under its Clean Air Action Plan. In relation to this, the local government took the decision to entirely ban leisure boats with internal combustion engines from the canals in its city centre by 2025.Already today, electric propulsion is mandatory for new commercial boats & ships. The change t ozero emission maritime transportation, therefore, has already picked up considerable pace–and Amsterdam is on the way to become the world ́s first fully “electrified” urban boating region.

The e-harbours in Amsterdam: Leisure boat ports that are designed specifically for serving electric boats & ships

The transition into a fully“electrified” boating region requires new kinds of harbours & on-shore infrastructure to serve (and charge)a rapidly increasing number ofe-boats & e-ships. The company E-HarbourB.V.is a pioneer in this field. In 2017, it opened the first marina for electric vessels in Amsterdam, Amstelkwartier. The port provides 65 berths, which are used by both tour boats operators and private boat owners. Further e-harbours are planned to come into operation soon, in Amsterdam as well as at other locations.

The e-harbours in Amsterdam: Leisure boat ports that are designed specifically for serving electric boats & ships

SKOON Sharing is an online marketplace for clean mobile energy. It enables companies to offer their batteries, hydrogen generators or other mobile clean energy assets for temporary assignments by energy users from the maritime sector and beyond. Thus, new demands or peaks periods can be met in a better way and at lower costs – and the need for constructing charging infrastructure minimised.

BoatNow.com – An online rental platform for private e-boats & e-ships

Amsterdam provides an immenserange of e-boats and e-ships that can be rented.One of the booking platforms that allows visitors, citizen or companies to charter skippered boats &ships for a trip or an event is BoatNow.com. It offers private electric vessels of various kinds and may be described as kind of a „Uber for boats”. What makes BoatNow unique is its easy and flexible booking process, which allows real-time planning of the pick-up at short term and at more than 100 locations in the city centre of Amsterdam.

Sloepdelen.nl – Fully automated bareboat charter of e-boats

As early as in 2007, Sloepdelen started to rent out electric boats in Amsterdam. Since then, it expanded to Leiden, Utrecht, Haarlem and Loosdrecht. Core element of Sloepdelen’s concept is the booking system, which was developed in-house and constantly improved over the years. It allows for a fully-automated rental process, incl. booking, payment and even starting the boat only with the smart phone. Since 2015,the software Let’s Book is offered also to other charter firms –and used today bye-boat rentals e.g.in Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain and the United States.

Revisiting Norway: Next gen electric ferries & pax ships

The last event in our series of ELMAR online seminars focuses on car ferries & pax vessels and presents the state of affairs in Norway, the world´s leading country for electric water mobility. By 2021, more than 80 electric car & pax ferries are operating in Norwegian waters - and the further roll-out of emission-free waterborne transportation is proceeding with an impressive pace. The seminar starts with an update on government policies & actions to foster the “green shift” of the domestic ferry market. Afterwards, it acquaints you with innovative ship designs and operating experiences with electric vessels of different kinds, incl. next gen battery-electric domestic car ferries, the world´s largest plug-in hybrid RoPax ship, a battery-driven high-speed pax vessel and a sea-going hydrogen-electric car & pax ferry.

View the event agenda

Please find further information in the agenda attached. In the file the presentation titles are clickable links to the presentation videos.

Watch the recordings

Welcome & introduction — Jens Masuch, Mario Heinrich ELMAR project

Norway revisited: The further roll-out of electric ferries & pax ships

Governmental actions — Anders Sæternes, Statens vegvesen
Next gen battery-electric ferries — Stein Ruben Larsen, Norwegian Electric Systems
Plug-in hybrid RoPax — Robin Tomren, Color Line
Battery-driven fast pax ferry — Edmund Tolo, Fjellstrand AS

…and a glimpse to Scotland

Hydrogen-electric car & pax ferry — John Stalton, Caledonian Maritime Assets, Christina Mikkelsen, Ballard Power Systems

Summary and farewell

Take a look at particular presentations

Governmental actions to promote the wider roll-out of battery-electric & hydrogen vessels on domestic ferry routes

Norway is the world´s leading country in introducing and deploying electric ferries & pax ships. Drivers of the “green shift” are governmental policies & actions. A key actor is the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen), which is, inter alia, responsible for the public procurement of domestic car ferry services. It had set the ambitious goal to get 50 battery-electric ferries into operation by 2021 – and this target has been even overachieved. In the further rollout, also hydrogen-electric ferries will play an important role. The first pilot vessel, projected in the framework of a public development contract, is planned to enter service in 2021.

Next generation battery-electric car ferries of the Norwegian domestic car ferry operator Fjord1

In 2020, Norway’s domestic car ferry operator Fjord1 brought a series of 5 next generation battery-electric car ferries into service. With their introduction, e-ferries left behind the testing & pilot phase within Fjord1´s operations. The 67- meter vessels for 50 cars serve lines at the Norwegian west coast, which have a sailing times of 13 to 30 min. Their propulsion systems were supplied by Norwegian Electric Systems (NES). The system integrator delivered a complete on-board package incl. batteries, charging systems and a specially developed DC switchboard – as well as the on-shore charging infrastructure. A special feature of the latter are onland battery packs that boost charging power while stabilising the grid – and thus address a challenge that will get more and more into focus when e-ferries are deployed at large scale.

The world´s largest hybrid RoPax ferry “Color Hybrid”: Vessel design & first operating experiences

Since 2019, the cruise ferry “Color Hybrid“ operates on Color Line´s international Sandefjord (NO) – Strömstad (SE) route. The 27.000 GT vessel can carry up to 2.000 pax and 500 vehicles on the 2,5 hours crossing that includes passages through the archipelago. Her plug-in hybrid propulsion system includes a 5MWh battery pack and allows up to 60 min manoeuvring & sailing in coastal waters at speeds of 0-12 kn. After two years of operation, first conclusions can be drawn regarding experiences with the operation scheme, battery use, savings in relation to internal combustion engine – and a first appraisal be made if the advantages of hybrid-electric propulsion could be validated for a large RoPax ferry, too.

“Medstraum” – The world's first all-battery driven fast pax ferry in accordance with the HSC regulations

The Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand is an innovator & pioneer in the field of zero emission car ferries & pax ships. In 2014, it delivered the world’s first all-electric car ferry “Ampere” to the Norwegian ferry company Norled, followed by a pair of eferries for the operator Fjord1. Fjellstrand’s newest project is the demonstrator vessel “Medstraum”, which will be tested by the public transport company Kolumbus on the Stavanger — Byøyene - Hommersåk route. Upon its delivery in 2022, theship will be world's first all-battery driven fast pax ferry in accordance with the HSC regulations – and a prototype for yet another vessel type needed to reach Norway’s goal of emission-free domestic maritime transport.

HySeas III – The world´s first sea-going car & pax ferry with hydrogen-electric propulsion

For long-distance & weather-sensitive ferry routes, hydrogen propulsion may be the first choice for zero emission operation. In parallel to the pilot of a domestic hydrogen ferry in Norway, the HySeas III consortium in Scotland is constructing a hydrogen fuel cell full drive train on land for extensive testing, and integrating this into a ferry design to likely serve the Orkney Islands. The concept of HySeas III includes thereby to run the ferry with locally-produced „green hydrogen” from renewable sources (wind, wave, tide, solar)