Current Direct

Projects

Current Direct: An innovative, interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and an Energy as a Service (EaaS) Platform.

ΚΕΥ FACTS

Duration : 36 Months

Budget : 12M€

Partners : 13

THE PROBLEM

Waterborne transport emissions represent about 13% of the overall European greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, with the potential to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario, undermining the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

In line with the Paris Agreement goals, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in 2018, stipulated a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission strategy aiming to reduce GHG emissions from the waterborne transport sector by at least 50% by 2050. Given such ambitious goals, reinvigorating the sector with actionable and affordable approaches is a necessity.

 

THE PROJECT

Current Direct addresses EU challenges by developing and demonstrating an innovative, interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and an Energy as a Service (EaaS) platform in an operational environment in the Port of Rotterdam at TRL7.

It take into consideration its integration across the range of different vessel types used in the coastal and inland waterway transport industry, including short to medium range freight and ferry services.

The system being developed will allow Current Direct to reach the following objectives:

1.

Significantly reduce the total cost of waterborne transport batteries.





2.

Cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector through electrification of vessel fleets.






3.

Increase the energy density of waterborne battery cells.

4.

Trigger investments for innovation, job and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery sector.

 

ENERGY-AS-A-SERVICE (EaaS) PLATFORM

Current Direct implements a cutting-edge, cost-effective, functional, and climate friendly model of battery swapping for the operational environment of inland waterways, coastal shipping and maritime industry. Thus an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) platform needs to be developed as a resilient management approach of the waterborne battery swapping method that will process information, decide, and provide directions.

That platform addresses numerous stochastic aspects, intending to provide vessel owners with profitable and sustainable swapping services, such as:

  • Location planning (i.e., building how many BSS stations of what size and where).

  • Infrastructure deployment (i.e., how many chargers and reserve batteries each BSS station should have).

  • Charging strategy (i.e., when to recharge/reserve batteries).

  • Revenue management methodologies (i.e., pricing optimization).

Learn more about it here!

OUR ROLE

  • Leading the development of state-of-the-art algorithms for the Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) platform that will utilize novel technologies to pave the way for a sustainable battery swapping business model.

  • Leading the analysis of the inland waterway and coastal shipping infrastructure to replicate the concept and identify areas with high deployment potential.

  • Contribute to the development of the Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) business and financial model and to the development of a commercialization map.

  • Supporting the communication and dissemination activities of the project.
 

FUNDING