Investigate and Assess Possibilities for the Electrification of Maritime Transport
(2025) In CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE EIEM01 20241Division for Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation
- Abstract
- With increasing pressure to get rid of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels to reach the world’s climate goals, the use of alternative fuels for propulsion are needed. This is a challenge for the maritime industry, where ferries have good properties to become renewable by the usage of batteries. Their routes are mostly fixed routes and with good infrastructure established at each stop, fully battery driven ferries could become a reality. The Gotland ferries operating between Nynäshamn and Visby, Sweden, run the route several times daily and face many challenges in becoming fully electric. The objective of this paper is to identify and assess possibilities and limitations in battery technology, energy need, charging infrastructure, and... (More)
- With increasing pressure to get rid of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels to reach the world’s climate goals, the use of alternative fuels for propulsion are needed. This is a challenge for the maritime industry, where ferries have good properties to become renewable by the usage of batteries. Their routes are mostly fixed routes and with good infrastructure established at each stop, fully battery driven ferries could become a reality. The Gotland ferries operating between Nynäshamn and Visby, Sweden, run the route several times daily and face many challenges in becoming fully electric. The objective of this paper is to identify and assess possibilities and limitations in battery technology, energy need, charging infrastructure, and costs to convert one of the Gotland ferries to a fully battery electric. This is done through simulations with a dynamic model of the ferry and its trip schedule.
The results show that in order to complete the ferry’s most hectic schedule, a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 400 MWh onboard the ferry is needed. Combined with energy storage systems of 200 MWh in each port, and also available grid of 14.7 MW in Visby, and 12.5 MW in Nynäshamn. The expected lifetime of the Onboard BESS would then be around 7.24 years. Furthermore, the results showed that by increasing the crossing time by 30 % and by also making changes to the ferry’s schedule, a 400 MWh BESS onboard could be combined with much smaller Onshore BESS’s of 100 MWh in each respective port, and expand the grid capacity in Visby from 4.7 MW to 10.7 MW, and the grid in Nynäshamn from 2.5 MW to 8.5 MW. This would result in a theoretical lifetime of 17.77 years. Although, to get the lowest investment cost per trip for this scenario, a 400 MWh Onboard BESS, 12.5 MW grid capacity in Nynäshamn and 14.7 MW in Visby, and 75 MWh Onshore BESS in each respective port is needed. The investment cost per trip would then be 177.38 thousand SEK, and the Onboard BESS could last 16.64 years, with a total investment cost of 2993 million SEK. Additionally, the CO2 emission payback time for the electrification of the Gotland Ferry — considering both cradle-to-gate and operational emissions — is calculated to be less than two years when cruising at normal operational speed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9215316
- author
- Arvidsson, Anton LU and Jonasson, Olle LU
- supervisor
-
- Mats Alaküla LU
- organization
- course
- EIEM01 20241
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), Electric ferry, CO2 payback time, Dynamic Simulink model, Battery technology, Gotland Ferry, Simulation
- publication/series
- CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE
- report number
- 5520
- language
- English
- id
- 9215316
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-28 09:31:58
- date last changed
- 2026-01-28 09:31:58
@misc{9215316,
abstract = {{With increasing pressure to get rid of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels to reach the world’s climate goals, the use of alternative fuels for propulsion are needed. This is a challenge for the maritime industry, where ferries have good properties to become renewable by the usage of batteries. Their routes are mostly fixed routes and with good infrastructure established at each stop, fully battery driven ferries could become a reality. The Gotland ferries operating between Nynäshamn and Visby, Sweden, run the route several times daily and face many challenges in becoming fully electric. The objective of this paper is to identify and assess possibilities and limitations in battery technology, energy need, charging infrastructure, and costs to convert one of the Gotland ferries to a fully battery electric. This is done through simulations with a dynamic model of the ferry and its trip schedule.
The results show that in order to complete the ferry’s most hectic schedule, a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 400 MWh onboard the ferry is needed. Combined with energy storage systems of 200 MWh in each port, and also available grid of 14.7 MW in Visby, and 12.5 MW in Nynäshamn. The expected lifetime of the Onboard BESS would then be around 7.24 years. Furthermore, the results showed that by increasing the crossing time by 30 % and by also making changes to the ferry’s schedule, a 400 MWh BESS onboard could be combined with much smaller Onshore BESS’s of 100 MWh in each respective port, and expand the grid capacity in Visby from 4.7 MW to 10.7 MW, and the grid in Nynäshamn from 2.5 MW to 8.5 MW. This would result in a theoretical lifetime of 17.77 years. Although, to get the lowest investment cost per trip for this scenario, a 400 MWh Onboard BESS, 12.5 MW grid capacity in Nynäshamn and 14.7 MW in Visby, and 75 MWh Onshore BESS in each respective port is needed. The investment cost per trip would then be 177.38 thousand SEK, and the Onboard BESS could last 16.64 years, with a total investment cost of 2993 million SEK. Additionally, the CO2 emission payback time for the electrification of the Gotland Ferry — considering both cradle-to-gate and operational emissions — is calculated to be less than two years when cruising at normal operational speed.}},
author = {{Arvidsson, Anton and Jonasson, Olle}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{CODEN:LUTEDX/TEIE}},
title = {{Investigate and Assess Possibilities for the Electrification of Maritime Transport}},
year = {{2025}},
}