World's largest electric cruise ship on maiden voyage in China
The ship will be used for sightseeing trips, mostly
The world's largest electric cruise ship has set sail toward Yichang in China's central Hubei province after cruising through the Yangtze River.
The ship is all ready to begin commercial operations starting from the upcoming month. It will be used for sightseeing trips, mostly.
It is powered by a massive 7,500 KW-hour marine battery from a battery manufacturer for electric cars, Contemporary Amperex Technology.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The Yangtze River Three Gorges 1 can carry about 1,300 passengers. The ship is 100 meters long and abound 16 meters wide, and can travel for around 100 km on a single charge, which would allow sailors to save up to 530 metric tons of fuel, reports Bloomberg.
Developer China Yangtze Power, a subsidiary of Three Gorges and Hubei Three Gorges Tourism Group, aims to utilise the ship's starting point by expanding China's marine electric vehicle market, including building a network of charging points along the river, according to a January report by the Global Times.
"It felt almost like sliding on flat ground," Cheng Lu, a passenger of the ship, told China Daily on Wednesday (Mar 30).
Chen Guohai, the ship's captain, said the vessel's computer-controlled systems were highly beneficial.
"Before, I used my own experience to determine if any equipment went wrong," said Chen Guohai.
"Now it's all monitored by computers. For problems regarding electricity consumption and battery endurance, there are data for comparison and automatic control," he stated.
