Feasibility Study of a DC Hybrid-Electric Catamaran for River Navigation

The sustainable growth is becoming every day more present and even mandatory in the framework of global decarbonization and Green House Gases (GHG) reduction. In such a context, electric powering offers important advantages while offering reliable and greener solutions for private-public urban transport. By considering this scenario, in this paper, an electric catamaran equipped with a DC hybrid module is proposed as effective in passenger transport along the Po river, in the Turin urban environment. The study encompasses many challenging aspects, which, in the end, improve the overall ship performance. For instance, the vessel shall be suitable for a quick hauling to the land in case of emergency with a crane truck. Secondly, the DC voltage distribution must provide safe power delivery by maintaining low weights. In this paper, the design is presented, along with the scenario constraints that have defined the peculiarities and addressed the technical choices.