Interesting idea but not part of the Ontario design. The ramp up to ramp down transit time is about 20 minutes so wouldn’t do much for current automotive type battery anyway.Will cars be able to plug in and charge while transiting?
@JohnShannonLooks like it can run 2hrs on a charge and go about 26 miles. The propulsion is 4x520kw call it 2000kW the battery is 4000kwh so two hours operation at max power. The trip to Wolfe island from Kingston is 20 min and it looks like about 3 miles on the map.
Fuel cost for the ferry would be .33 hr at 2MW is about 660kwh at $0.1 per kWh that works out to $66 worth of fuel spread amongst 80 cars. Electric propulsion is cheap.
The charger is 3MW so would take about 12 min to replenish the charge from each trip, that probably beats the unload/load time.
Yes can’t you just picture a deckhand dragging that off the boat to plug it in!Wow. 3000 amps (at 1000V) charge. That's some shore power cable!
Few years ago I'd agree. Now, not so sure. Seems like the world is focusing on electricity to power short range vessels from canal boats/water taxis to ferries.This is a good example of why battery powered ships are not going to be common anytime soon.
I've dragged 100' four conductor feeder cable a few times for a concerts in my early 20's. I could barely stand up with it coiled up on my shoulder. I can't imagine the cabling required to handle 3MW!Yes can’t you just picture a deckhand dragging that off the boat to plug it in!
Flat out guess, but electricity has been about $0.1/kwh since 1900 of course adjusted for inflation it is relatively cheaper. The rest of it should be accurate to within 20%@JohnShannon
That’s a nice way to present the info, cost of propulsion!
I am curious about how you derived the kWh rate of $0.1 though?
I have no idea what the Ontario gov charges itself for hydro but consumers pay some of the highest rates in the world.
Politically correctThe government can get a lot of political bang for the buck by implementing electric ferries. .........
My point is that it seems that it is “politically” smart to do this.
It is ALSO "correct" but I believe it's "smart" for a politician to choose to introduce an electric ferry. Hits a LOT of boxes on the plus side and being "NEW" gives them an easy out if things don't go well. Notice I didn't say "intelligent"!Politically correct
Bob
I'm curious if the public will start looking at the increased increase from power plants and if that increase will be of any significancethe government can claim they have met some of their emissions targets etc.
As I'm sure most of us know, power companies will often step up voltages for long distances. Voltage goes up and amperage/wire gauge goes down. I'm curious if this would be a potential solution and how far can it be pushed before issues start to arise.wire size and transformer size increases
There seem to be lots of decisions that don’t stand up to scrutiny and from certain perspectives seem to defy common sense.I found this picture of the robotic shore power arm.
A big problem is that the shore charging station hasn't been built or the grid upgraded to handle it - so for the foreseeable future the ferry will run as a diesel-electric "hybrid" putting out just as much CO2 as a conventional diesel powered ferry.
Someday this will be a good idea but I wish they had thought about getting enough charging capacity on shore. Not having that ready in time makes this all pointless. Just like selling electric cars without enough charging stations or grid capacity to power them
And as for Maine, it seems unlikely this will work for the Maine ferries that almost all have longer trips than 20 minutes (not to mention the millions likely required ashore to upgrade the antique, creaky Maine electric grid).
Again, for now they should find a way to upgrade the existing ferries with scrubbers or SCR to reduce NOx - a terrible pollutants that kill people and damages the oceans.
Or Maine should explore hydrogen. It emits zero CO2 (or other pollutants). Used everyday in California in thousands of cars - it's been safer than EV cars (battery fires). The problem is that today's hydrogen is made using natural gas which emits CO2 but new technology is coming to make hydrogen from wind power or solar. It would be easy to fuel at the ferry dock.