World’s First “Battery Tanker” Slated For 2026 Sea Trials

Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bold prediction in 2017: “Everything will go fully electric, apart from (ironically) rockets. Ships are the next easiest to solve after cars.” Six years later, the world’s second-richest person might be right about the next battery boom in ships. 

Japanese battery startup PowerX Inc. revealed a 140-meter-long electric propulsion vessel capable of transporting stored electricity across oceans. The “battery tanker” will be equipped with 96 containerized marine batteries that can haul renewable energy worldwide, connecting grids, islands, and offshore wind farms. The completion of the vessel is slated for 2025, with sea trials in 2026. 

“For instance, in Japan, a battery tanker can carry power from regions with high renewable energy supply potential, such as Kyushu and Hokkaido, to high-demand areas of Honshu or for inter-island power transmission,” the company explained.

While electric propulsion vessels might be the future to decarbonize the shipping industry, there appears to be a need to haul stored renewable power to other grids worldwide via a new tanker class.