China has built its first all-electric cargo ship:
A Chinese company has built a 2,000 metric-ton (2,204 tons) all-electric cargo ship, which was launched from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in mid-November, according to state-run newspaper People’s Daily.
The 70-meter long (229 feet) and 14-meter wide (45 feet) ship is equipped with over 1,000 lithium batteries, with a total capacity of 2,400 kilowatt-hours. By comparison, Tesla’s Model X is equipped with a 100-kWh battery that allows it to drive nearly 570 kilometers (350 miles).
Doesn’t look from these figures that this cargo ship will be crossing the Pacific. And sure enough it is going to be used mostly for local transit on inland waterways, since it has a range of only about 50 miles between charges. But here’s the punch line:
The vessel, designed for inland waterway transport, will have a pilot shipping voyage next month, and be put into commercial use early next year. It will travel a fixed route on one of the main waterways of southern China—the Pearl River—and will transport coal to a local power plant, according to state news portal Chinanews.
In other words, this electric ship will be used to transport coal to a power plant to generate electricity to charge electric car and ship batteries. The future, we’re told.
Meanwhile, anyone take in the fanfare of Tesla’s recent announcement of an electric truck? Pretty nifty, except for one thing:
Tesla truck will need energy of 4,000 homes to recharge, research claims
One of Europe’s leading energy consultancies has estimated that Tesla’s electric haulage truck will require the same energy as up to 4,000 homes to recharge, calculations that raise questions over the project’s viability.
The US electric carmaker unveiled a battery-powered lorry earlier this month, promising haulage drivers they could add 400 miles of charge in as little as 30 minutes using a new “megacharger” to be made by the company.
John Feddersen, chief executive of Aurora Energy Research, a consultancy set up in 2013 by a group of Oxford university professors, said the power required for the megacharger to fill a battery in that amount of time would be 1,600 kilowatts.
Special bonus graphic:
I think this is what Trump calls winning.
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