Boat electrification is coming - battery manufacturers actively layout boat battery

New breakthrough in electric boats

On February 28, the world’s first large-capacity battery hybrid ro-ro passenger ship was delivered in Nansha District, Guangzhou City, China.

Built by CSSC, this passenger ro-ro ship has 4 battery rooms equipped with 1160 large-capacity batteries, with a capacity of 8.8MWh, equivalent to the total battery capacity of 150 passenger electric cars.

As a hybrid ship, its fuel-powered propulsion mode and battery propulsion mode can be switched with one key, especially when the ship is operating in and out of port and sailing near the sea. It can fully use battery mode for propulsion, minimizing air pollution to the port and city.It is also a new breakthrough for electric boats.

Electric boats with great prospects and potential

Due to the emergence of fuel-powered vessels, there has been less demand for electric vessels in the market. Today, the global electric ship industry is still in its early stages, but has great potential for growth in the coming years.

In order to reduce the carbon footprint and fuel waste, the global demand for electric boats is also increasing, and although electric boats are currently mainly used in the civilian sector, the use of electric boats is on the rise in cities. Experts predict that the global electric ship market will exceed $10 billion by 2030.

It is understood that the vast majority of electric ships are currently equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries. Lithium iron phosphate battery, with its high safety, long life, low cost, balanced performance and other advantages, has become the optimal choice of power battery for ships at this stage.

Lithium iron phosphate battery is now the material cost of RMB 0.43/Wh, single energy density from the past 100Wh/kg to 160Wh/kg.

According to professional calculations, the ship per 100 km of operating costs, diesel-powered ships for RMB 4100, LNG-fueled ships for RMB 3700, electric boats for RMB 2800. However, the construction cost of electric boats is still higher than that of diesel-powered ships.

Although pure electric boats are not as common as internal combustion engine boats now, with the continuous maturity of pure electric bost technology and the gradually low boat battery cost as well as the combination of its zero pollution, low noise, safety and other advantages, as well as the global shipping industry emission reduction trend and policy promotion, electric boats will become the next big scene of power battery application after electric cars.

Battery manufacturers actively layout the power boat battery field

With the dual support of market and policy, the battery giant is accelerating in the field of boat batteries. Although the demand for lithium ion marine battery is not as high as that for electric cars, it is still relatively substantial.

According to industry institutions, the global lithium battery market for electric boats will reach about 35 GWh by 2025. Up to now, there are already many battery companies actively laying out.

Boat and battery manufacturers such as hybrid and boat battery suppliers Corvus Energy, Akasol AG and Lion Smart, as well as Denso Ansaldo Industrial Systems, Shuaifude Group and Samsung SDI have developed new boat lithium battery systems, and large battery companies in China are also actively developing the pure electric boat market.

China Classification Society certification is the “admission ticket” for battery companies on board. According to the regulations, boat batteries and battery management systems must obtain the type approval certificate of the China Classification Society (CCS) before loading on board.

China’s first lithium battery manufacturer to enter the field of electric boats was EVE’s lithium energy. As early as 2016, EVE’s boat battery was certified by the CCS. After that, the pure electric cruise ship “Princess Kuokuozhen”, the pure electric commercial passenger ship “JUN LV”, the pure electric harbor tug “Yungang Electric Tug No. 1”, the pure electric container ship . Also, the purely electric container ship “Guochuang” is equipped with the power battery of EVE.

As one of the top 10 power battery manufacturers in China, CATL’s layout is also relatively early. In 2019, CATL signed a strategic cooperation agreement with CCS Wuhan Specification Institute, officially entering the electric ship market. Since then, China’s first electric high-end river cruise ship “Minjiang Star” in Fujian Province, China’s first independently designed and built offshore dangerous goods emergency command ship “Deep Sea 01″, CATL’s independently developed pure electric ship ” White Dolphin I” and the world’s largest pure electric cruise ship “Yangtze River Three Gorges I” are all equipped with CATL lithium batteries.

At the end of 2022, CATL also incorporated a subsidiary, whose main business direction is the research, development and application of technologies and products related to boat battery systems, R&D and application.

In July 2020, China’s first battery-powered hybrid leisure fishing boat – Qinhuangdao 36-meter electric propulsion leisure fishing boat was put into use, for which GOTION HIGH-TECH tailored a deeply integrated high-voltage control cabinet battery pack lithium iron phosphate system.

In October of the same year, the CCS formally issued a certificate of approval to GOTION HIGH-TECH, marking that its lithium iron phosphate products have gained access to the marine industry.

As an early brand to obtain type approval from CCS, Camel Group has been cultivating the boat batteries field for many years, and its boat battery series products can be used in various scenarios, such as ship starting, communication and lighting, and life power. At present, Camel’s marine products can be adapted to different uses and types of ships.

In addition to these companies, battery companies such as Sunwoda and CALB are also actively engaged in the development of boat battery products.

The promising future of boat electrification

Electrification of ships will be a major trend in the future. However, although the prospect of electric ship batteries is favored, the higher cost of batteries and inadequate charging facilities have hindered its large-scale commercial promotion.

Some professionals pointed out that in the process of commercializing electric ships, the biggest obstacle is that the initial investment cost of electric boats is much higher than that of traditional ships, and ships need to replace batteries two to three times in the 30-year service life.

But the acceleration of technology proliferation and environmental regulations are becoming increasingly stringent.

The superposition of multiple factors is also likely to accelerate the development of pure electric boats, helping to promote electric boats on the fast track of development.