World first type approval
Bureau Veritas has granted a first of its kind type approval to a Swedish battery company.
Echandia’s battery system, based on LTO technology, is now type approved by Bureau Veritas.
Magnus Eriksson, CEO and founder of Echandia, said: “Echandia is the only company in the world to have a certified LTO battery system for marine use in tugboats. It is a breakthrough for safe LTO technology and as tugboats and ferries in local traffic increasingly become battery-powered, the future looks very bright.”
In use by Damen
The solution has proved to meet high international performance and safety requirements, as well as meeting the customer requirements for service life and reliability, which means at least 10 years of heavy operation without interruption.
The first to use the battery system was Damen Shipyards, which built one of the first full-size hybridised tugboats.
“Certification for marine battery use is the most difficult to achieve, which is why LTO technology can now be expected to make an impact in several areas. Echandia already has a type-approval for its E-LTO system from DNV,” said Jacob Zeidler, project engineer at Echandia.
The electrification requirements for workboats and passenger ferries are higher than for leisure boats. Often, they need to be charged quickly and are usually in operation for long periods without interruption. The energy storage systems (ESS) that are being developed are scalable, air-cooled and modular battery systems based on Toshiba’s LTO cells.
By Rebecca Jeffrey
