Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has announced that group company Seagate will build a new battery electric tugboat equipped with what it refers to as a hybrid EV propulsion system – the vessel has an electric motor as the main power source, supplied by a large-capacity lithium-ion battery charged by a shoreside power source, and features a generator as an auxiliary power source.
The tugboat will be deployed in the first half of 2025 and will be the first electric vessel to operate in the Tokuyama area of Japan. K Line also announced plans to make the ship even more environmentally friendly by replacing the fuel used for the generator with a zero-emission energy source.
