Swedish ferries to undergo electric conversion

The Älvsnabben 4 & 5 are passenger ferries that were built in 1994 and 1995 for shipping company Styrsöbolaget, which still operates them.

They will be re-built at the Ö-varvet shipyard in Öckerö, Sweden, then continue transporting a maximum of 448 passengers on both sides of Göta älv in Gothenburg.

The systems ordered will be comprised of 16 battery strings per vessel and run 18 cycles a day, 365 days a year with an expected lifetime of at least 17 years,” said Echandia.

“Our battery systems batteries are built up in a modular way; if one part fails only a subset of the total capacity will malfunction and there will always be enough energy to return safely to port,”, Marketing & Communications manager at Echandia Johan Winlund told Maritime Journal.

The company’s batteries are made with a lithium titanium oxide chemistry, which Winlund says ‘offer very high level of safety and outstanding long lifetime’ and can be fully recharged in just 15 minutes.

“We have delivered battery systems for to five main market segments: passenger vessels, ferries, energy and offshore, navy and tugboats,” he said. “Any kind of vessel, regardless of size, can use batteries for propulsion in some form.

““Electrification of the maritime industry is rapidly gaining traction,” said CCO Göran Fransson. “The number of vessels using batteries are growing rapidly. This is driven not only by legislation but also the positive effects on total cost of ownership that batteries offer.”

The two vessels, first delivered in 1994 and 1995, are 31.55m in length and 8.15m in width.