Fortune Minerals : Cobalt News

CNN - November 30, 2023

CNN - In Värmdö, a municipality of 10,000 small islands near Stockholm in Sweden, the school commute is about to get a whole lot more ...

In Värmdö, a municipality of 10,000 small islands near Stockholm in Sweden, the school commute is about to get a whole lot more exciting for a few lucky students…Starting in December, the archipelago's four schools will be the first users of the X Shore Pro, a new electric boat by a Swedish manufacturer that's been described as the "Tesla of the seas."…The boat is 26 feet (8 meters) long and seats up to 10 people, has a top speed of 30 knots (about 35 mph) and a range of about 100 nautical miles (about 115 miles), only achievable at a lower cruising speed of around 20 knots and heavily dependent on load and sea conditions. Fully electric, it produces no emissions or noise, resulting in a smoother ride that it says is far kinder to marine habitats…"We believe in prioritizing the health and well-being of our students and the environment," says Maria Niläng, principal of the Värmdö Archipelago Schools. "With this innovative electric school shuttle boat, we're not just providing efficient transportation; we're pushing for a cleaner society, and a brighter, healthier future for our students."…Founded in 2019, X Shore had previously released two electric leisure boats, the high-performance Eelex 8000 and the smaller X Shore 1. The X Shore Pro, which is meant for commercial operations or coast guards, is based on the former and shares most of its specifications…The X Shore 1 costs upwards of €109,000 (about $119,000), but the more expensive models in the lineup start at €195,000 (about $213,000)…The batteries that power the boat are similar to those found on electric vehicles. "They are lithium-ion batteries, but they are certified for the marine environment, so they need to be much safer around water," Keisu says. "They use normal automotive charging, so with a supercharger they can charge in 30 minutes, but they can also charge on [equipment] that is typically present in all marinas. That way, our different models charge somewhere between two hours to five hours." Using a household electric outlet is also possible, but with vastly increased charging times… "The boating industry should do more to transition [to electric vehicles] because boating is much worse for the environment than cars - the average leisure boat emits around four times as much CO2 as the average car."…Boats and ships with combustion engines are now starting to face scattered bans in lakes and waterways across the world - for example, diesel and gasoline engines will be banned from Amsterdam's canals from 2025, and Norway is planning zero emissions requirements for cruise ships, tourist boats and ferries in its UNESCO World Heritage fjords by 2026.