Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide. These are some of the pollutants that ships emit during their journeys and account for 2.6% of global CO2 emissions, which translates into 796 million tons. A figure that grows around 14% every year. Changing the routes, optimizing the load, reducing the speed or investing in alternative fuels are the alternatives in which the sector works for its decarbonization. “There is little innovation in the maritime industry, but a lot of technology available for it,” says Lars Holger, CEO and founder of Unleash Future Boats.
This German company has managed to develop a kit that makes any boat sustainable. “They suit both new and existing shipyards,” he adds. His solution makes it possible to change diesel for hydrogen. “We have experience in the automotive sector and it has already been successfully tested in cars, we have only transferred these innovations to our sector”, explains Holger. “We are not saying it, many experts are saying it: hydrogen is the energy vector where maritime transport has to settle.”
The technology patented by Unleash Future Boats, which has become one of the finalists in the sixth edition of Fundación Mapfre’s Social Innovation Awards in collaboration with IE University, “is created from scratch,” warns the German businessman. “You cannot transfer that from a car to a boat, because the needs are different,” he adds.
Thanks to its Green Boats Engineering tool, vessels become zero emissions by equipping long-range batteries with highly resistant hydrogen range extenders. At the moment, the solution reaches a range between 350 and 700 nautical miles and “is used for the transport of people and freight containers,” he explains. “But it is easily scalable, if you want more autonomy, we can add more hydrogen tanks,” he warns.
However, the deployment of this new technology is still a mystery to be solved. Total announced global capacity for hydrogen projects reached 71.4 million tonnes per year (Mtpa), but 2022 fell short of becoming a record year according to the latest Wood Mackenzie analysis. “The problem is not producing it, but storing it”, answers the CEO of Unleash Future Boats.
After its first tests in Germany, “we can say that we are facing a real solution,” says Holger. The German startup has close to 200 clients from Europe and the United States who have shown interest in installing this system on their boats. A government department (B2G) recently completed technical due diligence for an order for 50 zero emission boats.
no captain
The decarbonisation of the maritime sector is not the only plan on Lars Holger’s roadmap. His decade and a half in the German car industry helped him learn everything related to autonomous driving. For more than five years, that knowledge has been taking them to the water.
In August 2021, Unleash Future Boats launched its Future One prototype in the German port of Schleswig, powered by precisely hydrogen and without the need for a captain. “The challenge is to make a European Tesla never seen before in the European industry, but for this the collaboration of all countries is necessary,” warns Holger.
They are now working on Cargo One that “could save up to 30% of operating costs in the most loaded ports. Since the ships are completely emission-free thanks to electric propulsion with fuel cells and green hydrogen, they would offer solutions to the sometimes considerable environmental protection problems of ports”, add the founders of the company.
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