The futuristic electric "Tesla of ships" under construction

Apparently the effect Elon Musk was aiming for (the electrification of human transport means such as cars, for the betterment of the environment) is gradually coming to fruition. But this time what is propelling it is not the Tesla Model 3 or Model S, rather this time it is coming from a ship originating from the Netherlands.

The futuristic electric "Tesla of ships" under construction

A Dutch Company, Port-Liner, has recently announced that it is building two giant all-electric barges. This has given them the nickname, the Tesla Ships, and to demonstrate how far they have gone, the vessels are planned to be ready by Autumn, and they would be launched by sailing the Wilhelmina canal in the Netherlands. 

Better still the company has decided to invest over a 100 million euros into the project, with the European Union subsidizing it with a grant of 7 million euros.

According to the company, the plan for the battery-powered barges is for them to be capable of carrying a whooping 280 containers. The first 6 barges are expected to remove 23,000 trucks from the roads annually in the Netherlands and replace them with zero-emission transport. This would result in massive gains for the environment especially when it concerns atmospheric pollution.

The whole regions of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp are expected to be served by the barges. Port-Liner is not only developing its own vessels, but they are also developing a battery pack technology that houses the batteries inside a container. This would allow them to retrofit existing barges.

All this is good news because as the innovation and technology improves, larger vessels and ships would become more environmentally-friendly. Some of the world’s largest cargo ships emit pollution comparable to millions of passenger cars put together, and innovation is truly coming as attested to by a new all-electric cargo ship with a massive 2.4 MWh battery pack in China and two massive all-electric ferries in Sweden and Denmark come to mind.
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