Research results that environmental improvement by 'electricity of sea transportation' is becoming realistic

One of the major sources of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) is heavy oil-fueled shipping. Emissions of various gases can be reduced by electrifying ships, but until now, electrification of ships has not been actively discussed. Jessica Curcy and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley say that the reason for the lack of discussion about ship electrification is that 'past research has made outdated assumptions about battery costs, energy densities, and available onboard space.' He points out and estimates under new conditions to show that more than 40% of the world's maritime transport can be fully replaced by battery propulsion.

Rapid battery cost declines accelerate the prospects of all-electric interregional container shipping | Nature Energy

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The shipping industry supports 90% of the world's trade volume, or 11 billion tons per year. The shipping industry is able to carry this much because of its cheap and energy-dense heavy oil, which instead consumes 3.5 million barrels of low-grade heavy oil annually and emits 2.5% of its greenhouse gases. By 2050, 17% of greenhouse gas emissions are believed to come from the shipping industry.

Of course, the shipping industry is not inadequate, and we are looking for an alternative to heavy oil, a zero-emission energy source that does not affect the environment. One of them is electric fuel, that is, battery propulsion. Test operations and development of battery-powered vessels and hybrid vessels incorporating battery-powered vessels are already underway in multiple countries and regions. However, Curcy et al. Made the latest estimates that the lack of large-scale study was due to the lack of consideration of recent reductions in battery costs and improvements in battery energy density.

Comparing the propulsion power of a battery and heavy oil when a ship travels 1 km, a simple baseline scenario is for ships over 8000 TEU (1 TEU is equivalent to one 20-foot container) when the cruising distance is less than 1000 km. Only, the efficiency of the battery exceeded that of heavy oil, but when the cost of environmental impact and labor cost are added, it can be seen that the efficiency of the battery is better for container ships of all sizes up to a cruising distance of 5000 km. I did.

Also, in the baseline scenario, if battery costs are reduced due to future energy density improvements, the cost-effectiveness will be doubled, and battery efficiency will be better than heavy oil for container ships of all sizes within a cruising distance of about 3000 km. Was shown.

According to Mr. Curcy et al., Considering the environmental cost in the scenario where the battery cost has decreased, the battery will have an advantage up to a cruising range of 6500km for small vessels and a cruising distance of 12,000km for large vessels.

However, when switching to a battery propulsion ship, although the operating cost will be lower, the initial investment will be high because the battery must be installed on the ship. In addition, it has been pointed out that there are still issues to be cleared for commercial development, as it will be necessary to build a charging station with a capacity of several hundred MW in order to support the charging of ships. ..