Potential for electrifying ships from a fleet perspective – understanding power demand and grid capacity

Research Project, 2025 – 2026

Direct electrification of shipping offers a great opportunity to decarbonize parts of the shipping sector. This project aims to use the port of Gothenburg as a case study and estimate the power needed on a fleet level when different proportions of ships become electrified and need to charge in the port of Gothenburg. It is generally agreed within the shipping industry that most ships cannot be fully battery-electric, due to the low energy density of batteries, high energy storage demand, varying operational patterns, and the high-power need for charging. With this project, we would like to challenge this reconception and better understand the limits for both ships and the grid and how to improve the conditions for increasing the  electrification of ships.