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Tenders Invited for the Installation of Channel Ferry Charging Points.

www.thetimes.co.uk/.../cross-channel-ferries-will-go-electric-say-operators-p862kvm8d

Z.

  • Sounds a good idea. Diesel fuel is dirty and increasingly expensive. Major channel ports have well developed electrical infrastructure to meet the charging demand. In the interests of reliability I would hope that charging will be available at BOTH ends of the route, but that the ships be designed so as to make a RETURN voyage on one charge. For when charging facilities at one end are on strike or otherwise not available.

    Battery power should also encourage more prudent of use of electricity on ferries, it is often used very wastefully at present.

    I wonder what the charging demand will be ?  10 MW or thereabouts perhaps.

  • They want to charge up the ferries? Now that may be interesting, ships engines are quite big and powerful. The battery will reduce the load capacity significantly and charging in an hour or less? Should be good fun and they can use only French electricity as we don't have enough already. Now lets design a ferry with several windmills on the top, or perhaps sails, even better. That saves huge capital cost and fuel. What could be wrong with this piece of GREEN virtue signalling?

  • OK Broadgage, so about 300 Tesla batteries then, about 3 million pounds. Have you read the plugging in regulations in BS7671, and a supply at perhaps 33kV? Interesting, that's never been attempted before. I wonder what the chance is that they will have a battery fire in the first month, and the life expected at 8 charge/discharge cycles per day? Perhaps they will get 6 months or perhaps a year. I think the ferry prices are about to increase substantially!

  • A cross channel feryy needs a lot of power

    From this website

    Spirit of Britain propulsion

    The main engines include four MAN 7L48/60CR diesel mechanical engines, each producing 7,600kW. The ferry is fitted with two Alpha type controllable pitch propellers.

    Enhanced manoeuvrability is achieved by three Wärtsilä CT300M bow thrusters. Each of these has a power output of 3,000kW. The vessel also has four MAN 7L21/31 auxiliary engines, each with a capacity to produce 1,424kW at 1,000rpm.

    Now I make that knocking on  30MW even allowing for not all on at once, and a one way crossing time of about an hour. Suggest at least 60MW hour of battery to get out and back.  That is about 1000 times the battery capacity of a modern EV.

    I think you will need a considerably bigger charger. For a 1 hour turnaround,  even at 11kV it is almost 1500 amps per phase. That is one heck of a plug to dangle over the quayside.

    Mike.

  • I very much doubt that any standard type of plug and socket would be used. Much more likely would be overhead electrification, a bit like that used for railways. When the ship docks, a gantry at a safe height would swing out over the ship. A moving contact at high level on the ship would make contact. 1000 amps at say 33 kv should be doable. 30 minutes to unload and load the ship would allow about 16 MWH of charging. 

    They said that electric cars would never be viable, yet thousands are now in use and are generally giving satisfaction.

  • It probably actually makes more sense to dig a second tunnel with another railway running through it.

  • Is this story actually what it seems to be?

    180mph electric 'flying ferries 'could slash journey times for cross-Channel trips to 40 minutes (inews.co.uk)