Swappable Container Waterborne Transport Battery

Scope:

Current Direct is a new research and innovation project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program (7107909) The project with an overall budget of €11.98M over 3 years will revolutionize the way we move goods and people by water with the use of swappable containerized batteries connected to an Energy as a Service Platform.

Waterborne transport emissions represent around 13% of the overall EU greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, which could increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 under a business as-usual scenario, undermining the objectives of the Paris agreement. The Current Direct project addresses these challenges by proposing an innovative lithium-ion cell optimized for waterborne transport, using novel manufacturing techniques allowing for a consistent cost reduction compared to the current market prices. Additionally, a swappable containerized energy storage system optimized for cost and operation in the waterborne transport industry will be developed.

Objective:

The overarching aim of the Current Direct project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and EaaS Platform in an operational environment at the Port of Rotterdam at TRL7 that facilitates fast charging of vessels, fleet optimization and novel business models.

The project is dedicated to:

  • significantly red​uce the total cost of waterborne transport batteries
  • cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector through electrification of vessel fleets
  • increase the energy density of waterborne battery cells and
  • trigger investments for innovation, job and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery sector.

Work packages:

  • WP1: Ethics requirements (VUB)
  • WP2: Specifications and requirements (Foreship)
  • WP3: Development of Waterborne trasport battery cell (Blackstone)
  • WP4: Development of the Waterborne ​Transport Battery System (Spear)
  • WP5: Development of the Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) Platform (Rhoe)
  • WP6: System Int & Dem. of Battery System & EaaS Platform (WARTSILA NORWAY)
  • WP7: Standardization for Scale (LR)
  • WP8: Economic Eval. Business Model and Roadmap for Commercialization (EDP CNET)
  • WP9: Outreach activities - Communication and Dissemination Actions (EDP CNET)
  • WP10: Project Management (VUB)

Partners:

  • VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL (VUB), Belgium
  • WARTSILA NORWAY AS (WARTSILA NORWAY), Norway 
  • LLOYD'S REGISTER EMEA IPS (LR), United Kingdom
  • Blackstone Technology GmbH, Blackstone Germany
  • ROI ASTIKES TECHNOLOGIES IKE RHOE URBAN Tech (Rhoe), Greece 
  • CNET CENTRE FOR NEW ENERGY Tech. SA (EDP CNET), Portugal
  • VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK N.V. (VITO), Belgium
  • AVILOO GMBH (Aviloo), Austria
  • KOTUG INTERNATIONAL BV (KOTUG) Netherlands
  • FORESHIP OY (Foreship), Finland 
  • UNIVERSITEIT HASSELT (UHASSELT), Belgium
  • SPEAR POWER SYSTEMS BV (Spear), Belgium
  • UMICORE (UMICORE), Belgium

Funding:

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 7107909