New Marine Battery System from Leclanché

Energy storage solution company Leclanché SA has launched its new Marine Rack System (MRS), a modular, Lithium-ion battery system – the first of its type approved by international certification body DNV-GL under revised rules issued in October 2015

The Leclanché MRS will be used on the E-ferry in Denmark, the world’s largest 100 percent electric ferry by battery capacity, equipped with a 4.3 MWh Leclanché Lithium-ion battery and scheduled for launch later this year.

“There is a huge opportunity for marine vessels across the world to reduce their harmful emissions and cut their operating costs by leveraging battery storage technology,” said Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché. “This is why we developed the MRS and we are delighted that it is the world’s first such solution to receive type approval from DNV-GL. This certification opens up a very exciting and substantial global market for Leclanché.” 

Antti Väyrynen, Vice President E-Transportation, Leclanché, added, “Type approval is an important catalyst to our market growth as it significantly simplifies the certification process of each vessel that uses the Leclanché MRS.” 

Leclanché said safety was one of its key focus areas when developing the MRS. The company performed multiple fire propagation tests to ensure that the battery system performed safely, in even the most extreme situations. With the requirement to pass close to 20 separate tests, the DNV-GL certification process sets the benchmark for battery system safety in marine applications.

The E-ferry will be launched in late 2017 sailing between the island Aeroe (Ærø) and the mainland. The emission-free, passenger and car ferry will be able to sail a record 60 nautical miles on a single charge. The E-ferry is an EU Horizon 2020 project, the EU's €77 billion transport and energy research and innovation program from 2014 to 2020. 

In Scandinavia, there is the potential to convert nearly 200 ferry routes to electric within the next decade; Europe-wide over 1,000 ferries could be converted. The Leclanché MRS could also be used in other marine applications including hybridization and peak shaving of auxiliary loads of cargo vessels and cruise ships. In 2015, the global marine hybrid propulsion market was valued at $2.6 billion. It is expected to reach $5.2 billion by 2024, representing a CAGR of 8.2 percent from 2016 to 2024.