Baleària trumpets electric fast ferries

The batteries, Baleària says will have a capacity of 11.5MWh – however the vessels will also have diesel back-up combustion engines ‘for possible contingencies’.

Charging will have to be completed within the one-hour stop-over at the ports at Tarifa on the Spanish end and Tangier on the Moroccan end.

Shore power supply, Baleària says, will allow a full recharge in just 40 minutes, with port batteries complementing the supply.

Reports said the ferries will be built at the Armon Shipyard in northwest Spain.

The ferries are catamarans and similar in design to the Incat Crowther LNG-fuelled ferries Eleanor Roosevelt and Margarita Salas. They are 87 metres long, 25 metres wide and can take more than 800 passengers and 225 cars.

The maximum speed of the ferries is 26 knots, made smoother with a T-Foil system that dampens vertical movement.