At a time when the war in the new energy vehicle market is raging, some prescient battery companies have begun to aim at the promising electric ship market.
Recently, the construction of China's first pure electric port tugboat has officially started in Lianyungang. In the main power system, the ship uses lithium iron phosphate power battery pack with 100 million lithium energy instead of conventional diesel units as the main propulsion power, and several groups of batteries are designed for each other, with a high safety factor. What's more, it solves the problems of oil pollution and carbon emissions of traditional diesel engine propulsion. In the charging mode and device, the ship can be charged in two modes: fast charging and slow charging, which can be filled in 2 hours and 6-8 hours respectively.
It is reported that according to the current average utilization rate and fuel consumption of tugboats in Hong Kong, although the cost of pure electric tugboats is higher than that of conventional diesel tugboats, it can save about 300 tons of energy consumption every year. From the analysis of the whole life cycle benefit, when the service life of the pure electric tugboat reaches 30 years, the cost of a conventional tugboat can be saved basically, and the economy is very considerable. The use of pure electric tugboats will reduce emissions by about 900 tons of carbon oxides and 12 tons of sulfides each year, which is equivalent to the emission reduction of more than 300 cars, with huge environmental benefits.
It is not a unique instance, but has its counterpart. Not long ago, Fujian Province's first electric high-end inland river cruise ship "Minjiang Star" successfully made its maiden voyage in Fuzhou Taijiang wharf. The ship's power battery system adopts Ningde era large-capacity and high-safety lithium iron phosphate cell, equipped with 936kWh power, sails at the speed of 13km/h, and can run continuously for 8 hours.
It is understood that this power battery system meets the latest and most stringent standards of the China Classification Society, and each cell is equipped with two independent temperature sensors, which can monitor the state of the cell in real time and accurately, and effectively ensure the safety of the ship. It is estimated that using the "Minjiang Star" electric cruise ship to replace the traditional cruise ship will reduce carbon monoxide emissions by about 1.5 tons and nitrogen oxides by about 1.7 tons per year.
"at present, more than 99% of waterborne ships use diesel as propulsion system power, and hybrid and pure electric ships usher in great opportunities for development." At the seminar on the development of green new energy shipbuilding industry in Hubei, China, Tang Jian, deputy general manager of Wuhan Branch of China Classification Society, said that vigorously developing green shipping can not only reduce comprehensive costs, but also has important practical significance for economic development.
General trend of ship electrification
In recent years, the transformation of new energy in the global transportation field has been a general trend, and the shipping industry is gradually pointing the green development to electric ships. The traditional ships equipped with diesel engine power system have low technical level, produce a lot of oil sewage, harmful gases and particles in the process of navigation and entry, and the noise pollution is serious, which has a serious impact on the ecological environment of the water area. Therefore, the electric ship with low energy consumption, zero emission, low noise and no pollution is an important way to realize energy saving and emission reduction and ship system transformation and upgrading.
According to the environmental rules of the International Maritime Organization, from 2020, the sulphur content of marine fuel should be less than 0.5% on the high seas and less than 0.1% in offshore areas. Environmental protection laws and regulations related to ship air pollution are being issued intensively in various countries, and the ports of many countries have implemented strict ship emission standards, forcing the transformation of ship manufacturing.
Since 2015, the 500-ton and 2000-ton pure electric cargo ships developed in China have successfully operated in the waters of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, filling in the blank of pure electric bulk carriers with the same tonnage in the world, indicating that China's inland waterway has opened a new era driven by electric power and become a model for the transformation of green waterway in the industry. In November 2017, the world's first 2000-ton pure electric bulk carrier was hoisted and launched at Longxue Shipbuilding Base in Guangzhou, filling the gap in the world market of inland river double-electric bulk carriers of the same tonnage.
In December 2018, the country's first cooperation agreement on 1000-ton pure electric transport vessels on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was signed in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. In this project, the power system, as the core component of the electric cargo ship, is powered by a combination of super capacitors with high specific power and power lithium batteries with high specific energy, which has passed the authoritative certification of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the CCS of China Classification Society.
In order to promote pure electric ships, the relevant state departments are improving ship inspection laws and regulations and construction codes, speeding up the transformation of ship shore power receiving facilities, ship use shore electricity incentive mechanism and so on. Its China Classification Society has established a standard system for the application of LNG (liquefied natural gas), which covers all aspects of LN* (liquefied natural gas) transportation, filling and utilization.
Lithium iron phosphate is the best choice.
"Lithium iron phosphate battery has become the best choice for marine power battery at present because of its high safety, long life, low cost and balanced performance." Wu Kai, vice president of Ningde Times, said. Based on safety and economy, lithium iron phosphate power battery and BMS battery management system has developed rapidly in recent years. The improvement of charge and discharge rate makes the ship start-up acceleration and power handling better, which already has the technical conditions for popularization and application in ships.
It is understood that at present, the lithium iron phosphate power battery products of many domestic marine battery manufacturers have passed the experimental test and obtained the certificate approved by the China Classification Society. At present, the single energy density of lithium iron phosphate battery used in electric ships can reach 160Wh/kg. Moreover, the price of lithium iron phosphate battery has dropped to 0.6 yuan / Wh, which is economical in the field of ship application. However, although there is almost no difference between marine lithium iron phosphate battery and new energy vehicle lithium iron phosphate battery, the requirements of marine lithium battery system are higher, and the requirements of safety and fire protection system are higher than those of vehicle.
According to the 2015 color 2024 global market report on electric ships, small submarines and automatic underwater ships released by international market research institutions, it is predicted that due to good performance, affordability, legal ban and other factors, the electric ship market is ushering in rapid growth. By 2024, the global electric ship market will reach 7.3 billion US dollars, the market prospect is very broad. The demand for lithium batteries brought about by ship electrification will grow rapidly, and the industry expects that the battery demand will exceed that of 6GWh by 2025.
However, it is worth noting that despite the huge potential of the electric ship market, the electric ship industry and the market are still in their infancy. At present, the large-scale promotion and application of electric ships is still limited by the lack of relevant standards, imperfect charging facilities, limited power supply capacity of Electroweb, unclear business model and other problems; it still requires the continuous efforts of the majority of practitioners in the industry.
