Electric catamaran projects have gained unprecedented popularity over the past few years. Electric propulsion technologies have an effect on a wide audience because previously in In Russia, they were not used on river transport. All this has a commercial value for shipowners: such a fleet is considered eco-friendly, silent, comfortable and economical in operation.
The flagship in this area today is the company “Imperium”. The company was not only the first in Russia to build an electric vessel, but also the only one in the whole country to put such catamarans into mass production. Ecovolt is a recreational electric vessel, which in 2020 was presented by the company “Morsvyazavtomatika” (“NPK MSA”, later the shipyard “Imperium” was created for this direction). Since then, the company has developed and started production of several more types of electric vehicles. One of them is a two—deck high-speed catamaran Ecocruiser for 130 passengers.
ECOCRUISER
This is Russia’s first serial project of electric propulsion vessels with innovative and environmentally friendly solutions for the industry. The first electric ship was built at the Imperium shipyard in the Leningrad region, and the whole series consists of five units. The vessel was built for the Vodohod company and was named Ecohod.
In the middle of autumn 2022, Ecohod arrived in Krasnoyarsk. Already in this navigation, the vessel will start working on the Yenisei River, performing pleasure flights within the Krasnoyarsk territory and regular transportation on the route Krasnoyarsk — Divnogorsk and back. Specially for its operation in the region by order of the company “Vodohod. Passenger Port” Imperium Shipyard has built coastal charging stations and a slow charging station. There are plans to build and launch only six such vessels that will run on routes to On the Yenisei and, possibly, on the Krasnoyarsk reservoir.
ECOVOLT 2.0 AND ECOVOLT 3.0
The Ecovolt series electric vessel is designed for river hiking and business meetings. The passenger capacity of the vessel is up to 86 people; the crew is two people. The hull of the vessel is made of aluminum and fiberglass. Two electric motors provide power of 200 kW each. The screws are driven by a pair of 180 kW electric motors powered by lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 600 kWh.
A source: https://e-cis.info/news/569/110888/
