Abstract:

This study analyzes the operational profiles of Chinese coastal ferries, their energy demand, and the implied battery system to evaluate the feasibility of repowering the fleet with battery-electric technology. It also identifies the regions and market segments where the transition to battery-electric ferries could be implemented first. The analysis finds that current battery technologies can already satisfy most application scenarios for China’s coastal fleet. Most ferry legs in coastal China are shorter than 200 km, which is well within the battery range values of most ferries studied. Battery technology improvements would help electrify other more difficult segments of the existing ferry operations, namely larger ro-pax ferries deployed on longer routes. In addition, higher charging power during at-berth time helps improve the continuity of ferry operations using batteries, which is crucial for application scenarios where one route is exclusively served by one ship.