The electric boat Astrid Helene, named after GMV chief executive Bård Meek-Hansen's mother. Photo: GMV.

Shipbuilder plugs first electric workboat

The world’s first electric workboat will soon be up and running, although not as quickly as originally envisaged, according to its developer.

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Norwegian shipbuilder Grovfjord Mechanical Workshops (GMV) had hoped to have the battery-powered “Astrid Helene” – the first of its GMV Zero type - ready for display at this year’s Aqua Nor trade show, which was taking place from August 15-18 in Trondheim.

But CEO Bård Meek-Hanse said work remained to be completed.

Bård Meek-Hansen, CEO of GMV, at Aqua Nor. Photo: Therese Soltveit.

“As of today the boat is not finished, but we are well on our way and soon the boat will be up and running,” he said during an Aqua Nor seminar on zero-emission technology.

GMV Zero has zero CO? emissions, no NOx particle emissions, very low operating and maintenance costs and little or no noise load. The annual reduction of CO? will be 90 tons and NOx will be lowered by 900kg, according to Meek-Hansen.

“At the same time we eliminate harmful particles,” he points out.

Hybrid option

The GMV boss says they also may eventually offer the boat as a hybrid workboat.

“Customers can choose either a hybrid, pure electric boat or standard workboat. We'll try to standardise most of these types of boats for customers going forward,” he says.

Meek-Hansen told fishfarmingexpert.com’s sister website, kyst.no, that the plan is for the electric boat to be tested at fish farmer Trollvika Drift, allowing any teething problems to be fixed before Grovfjord goes commercial with the electric vessel.

“But we’ll advertise the boat for now and then we'll see how interest is. The mood was a bit tepid when we first launched the electric boat concept, but I feel that situation has changed now as farmers see that vessels are becoming more cost effective for them.”

Environmentally friendly

Meek-Hansen says they after a few months of testing the electric boat the company will probably offer the option of a hybrid vessel.

“This is an opportunity we will provide for our customers, so that they can choose from more environmentally friendly alternatives.”

When it comes to the technical choices for the fitting of the vessel, he says that the options for electrical equipment have changed during construction.

“The batteries we chose were Corvus and Orca, which were then the best alternatives for price and the other features. During the construction phase we have been offered new types of batteries, so that we may change the type of battery next time,” he said.

Meek-Hansen said an electric winch is also under development and will be installed on the boat.

The yard will later invite people to visit, and show how the electric boat works in practice. The vessel, says Meek-Hansen, has been named after his mother, Astrid Helene.