Electrically-powered ferries to connect Croatian islands in the future?

Dalmont shipyard in Kraljevica has recently built 2 new ferries, intended for Krka National Park. The question now arises, can these types of ferries be used to transport passengers on Adriatic? The journalists of “Otvoreno more” magazine have researched this topic. Robert Miletić, who worked on construction of “Visovac” and “Miljevci” ferries gave his opinion.

“The catamarans are 14 meter long and 4,7 meters wide, built from high-quality aluminum materials resistant to corrosion and weighing 7,5 tons. Each ferry has 2 Danfoss electric motors holding a total power of 12,5 kW, along with the set of 8 litij-ion batteries with a total capacity of 40 kW/h. These batteries can power the ships for 8 hours, reaching the maximum speed of 7,5 knots. However, each ferry has 26 solar panels that can extend the journey for an extra 10 hours. Therefore, if the weather conditions are good, ferries can sail the entire day without recharging.”

Batteries can be recharged in 6 hours, and if the Krka National Park had stronger electricity sources, recharging could be done in as little as 2 hours. Ferries can be built in a span of 8 months. Robert gives his opinion on applying the same principles to the classic ferries:

“We could use the same principles to build 80-meter electric ferries, capable of carrying 60 vehicles and 350 passengers. These ferries would be ideal for shorter routes, like Zadar – Preko, Prizna – Žigljen, Brestova – Porozina, Stinica – Mišnjak and similar. The ferries could sail constantly for 15 kilometres, after which would need to recharge. Of course, it would be necessary to build docks with large power sources, so that the boats could be easily recharged. However, even that can be easily done, by setting up batteries to ports, which can be recharged using renewable sources like sun or wind. The similar ferries already exist in Norway.”

Dalmont shipyard confirmed they already have some contact with ferry companies like Jadrolinija and Rapska plovidba regarding these ferries. The director of the shipyard said there is a good chance that the ferries would be used to connect Croatian islands in the not-so-distant future.

Source: Glas Otoka