BUILDING A HYBRID OR AN ELECTRICAL SHIP

Are you planning to build a hybrid or an electrical ship?

Imagine the situation, that we all should build our own cars. Just ordinary, everyday car for your family or for your one person company to perform for simple transportation tasks. Luckily, there is a car industry, which is kind enough to build us complete cars. We may just focus on the colour, comfort options and forget about bits and pieces that are hidden under the hood. Imagine if you must choose yourself also the crank shaft and the levelling gear of your car. I know my wife would not like to be in that position. Although she might have an opinion about the crank shaft colour…

Now when there is a boom of electric ship concept, we have put our customers in the similar position. We sell them boats and ships, considering that usual approach is good enough?

“It’s not just good, it is good enough!”

-quote from Krysty the clown, The Simpsons

Well, maybe the clown is right, but I feel that we should not let that happen. We should advise to expect something else from the electrical concept than from the traditional. And what is the most important, we must work hard for the electrical concept to lift it up to meet expectations. I saw a very nice example coming out from Austal just today. Electrical ferry concept which was made to look and perform better than the traditional. When this is designed to fulfill the operation profile correctly, the outcome is a success. The product, the ship, performs according expectations and reputation of electric concept is secured.

In this spirit I started last year to write a guidebook for the industry. There will be three chapters; first one is for the owners, teaching how to demand correctly and how to set the targets. Here is a small sample of it:

“Start by selecting one step smaller and therefore less expensive but quality components for your design. Seek for the top performance of this component size. See through the whole design to find out the true outcome. Keep in mind that ships are rarely used at full speed. Maybe you can live without the top knot of the speed range.”

Owner’s chapter is now written and will be published as an ebook in the end of February. It is heavy stuff and will lead to new kinds of working methods, especially on the small market. From my experience, this is clearly a needed change. The iterating design circle of ship building/design, which returns to evaluate already made decisions and corrects them. It works.

The Owner’s chapter will be followed by one for the shipyards and last chapter for the suppliers. Same story three times, from three perspectives. Basics for everybody.

Based on the number of pre-orders and contacts, there is a great need for this book. It is written to understand what is needed in order to get what you are paying for – with a practical and environmentally friendly outcome.

Take care and keep in touch!