The MS MEDSTRAUM, the world’s first fully electric vessel and classified as a high-speed craft, was completed by the Norwegian shipyard Fjellstrand and delivered to its homeport in Stavanger, Norway. The ship can reach speeds of up to 27 knots and is scheduled to begin regular commuter service in late summer.
The vessel weighs 260 gross tons and is around 98 feet long. It has a capacity of 147 passengers and will be operated by a crew of 3. It has two 550kW electric motors and 1524 kWh battery capacity with 2.3 MW charging power. The vessel cost $11 million to build, half of being underwritten by the European Union due to being a demonstration project. It is to sail as a regular service ferry between Stavanger, Byøyene, and Hommersåk in Norway, where a typical trip will be around 35 to 40 minutes long. It is expected to cut emissions by 1500 tonnes compared to the traditional fuel-intensive fast ferries.
Maritime CleanTech, the cluster that initiated the EU-funded TrAM project that led to the creation of the MEDSTRAUM, has stated that the vessel was built using modular manufacturing methods. This reduced the manufacturing and engineering costs and will help them produce these vessels at a much more economical price. It is a fact that a disproportionately large amount of energy is required to fuel the vessel as the speed of the vessel increases. Edmund Tolo, Head of R&D at Fjellstrand AS, underlined the vessel’s ability to operate at the speed of 23 knots for a full hour and hailed it as being revolutionary.
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