Japan's e5 Lab Inc. and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., will provide the design for “ROBOSHIP,” a standard hybrid electric propulsion vessel the two companies are seeking to promote as a vision for the future of ships, for a 499-ton biomass fuel carrier being built by Honda Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.
ROBOSHIP will be designed to use a standard system package comprising the hardware for electric propulsion, including propellers, motors, switchboards, storage batteries, and generators, together with the software to safely and efficiently control this equipment; a system able to handle a cargo ship of up to around 749 tonnes. The ship foregoes conventional diesel engines in favor of a hybrid system of large-capacity storage batteries and generators to drive the propulsion motors. The adoption of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding’s high-performance twin skeg ship design shoud lower propulsion horsepower by more than 20%, reducing CO2 emissions during cruising, and allowing the ship to navigate completely CO2-free during port operations such as freight loading and unloading, pier docking and undocking, and entering or leaving port. The generators are capable of switching between eco-friendly fuels including liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, ammonia, biofuel, and synthetic fuel, allowing all operations, including navigation, to be CO2-free.
