How can long-distance battery-powered container ships stack up? A speculative Asia-Europe illustration

IF 3.4 3区工程技术 Q1 ECONOMICS

Research in Transportation Economics Pub Date : 2025-09-08 DOI:10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101636

Anthony Wiskich

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Are batteries too costly and insufficiently energy-dense for long-distance shipping? We consider a container ship on a round trip between Asia and Europe under two speculative assumptions. First, in addition to a battery-on-container-ship (“on-ship”) approach, we study an “off-ship” concept where a dedicated battery vessel can power the ship en route. Second, we allow (dis)connection of battery vessels and charging at sea (stops). We describe an economic model that optimises ship speed, number of sea stops, battery capacities and battery vessel adoption for a hybrid (fuel/battery) container ship. Our main insights: (i) the off-ship approach allows greater flexibility and partial electrification at higher battery costs, (ii) optimal speeds increase and vary depending on the route segment with battery-powered propulsion, and (iii) battery uptake is more sensitive to battery costs than energy density. We hope these insights promote research into the technical feasibility of the off-ship approach.

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电池驱动的长途集装箱船如何堆积起来？一个推测性的亚欧图解

对于长途运输来说，电池是否过于昂贵且能量密度不够？我们在两个推测的假设下考虑一艘往返于亚洲和欧洲之间的集装箱船。首先，除了集装箱船上的电池（“船上”）方法外，我们还研究了“船外”概念，即专用电池船可以在途中为船舶供电。第二，我们允许电池船（断开）连接和海上充电（停止）。我们描述了一个经济模型，该模型优化了混合动力（燃料/电池）集装箱船的航速、停靠次数、电池容量和电池船的采用。我们的主要见解是：(1)船外方法允许更大的灵活性和更高电池成本的部分电气化；(2)最佳速度的增加和变化取决于电池驱动推进的路线段；(3)电池吸收对电池成本比能量密度更敏感。我们希望这些见解能够促进对船外方法技术可行性的研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research in Transportation Economics Multiple-

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

2.60%

发文量

审稿时长

60 days

期刊介绍： Research in Transportation Economics is a journal devoted to the dissemination of high quality economics research in the field of transportation. The content covers a wide variety of topics relating to the economics aspects of transportation, government regulatory policies regarding transportation, and issues of concern to transportation industry planners. The unifying theme throughout the papers is the application of economic theory and/or applied economic methodologies to transportation questions.