Around-the-world boat picks an engine fuelled by seawater
A boat that floats on its own fuel source will soon attempt to circumnavigate the worldA boat that can generate its own fuel from seawater will use technology developed for the road to help it on a quest to circumnavigate the world without leaving any carbon foootprint.
The Energy Observer, launched in 2017, is an experimental 30.5 metre by 12.80 metre wind and electricity-powered catamaran that will kick off a round-the-world voyage in a few weeks' time.
It will use its massive array of solar panels to convert seawater into hydrogen fuel, which will then be fed into a fuel cell adapted from the one used to power the Toyota Mirai, the world’s only production hydrogen-fuelled passenger car.
“Toyota Technical Centre Europe has especially developed this fuel cell system, using components first introduced in the Toyota Mirai and fitted it into a compact module suitable for marine applications,” Toyota said in a statement announcing the new technology.
“It will deliver more power and efficiency, but also high reliability to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean this year.”
Road to water
Toyota’s Europe-based research team took seven months to marinise the Mirai’s fuel cell technology.
The hydrogen fuel cell – it combines the liquid hydrogen stored at extremely high pressure in eight on-board tanks with oxygen from the air to generate electricity used to power an electric motor – was extensively tested late last year ahead of being installed in the Energy Observer.
“We are very proud to embark the Toyota Fuel Cell System on our oceans passages, and test it in the roughest conditions,” the Energy Observer’s captain, Victorien Erussard, said.
“After three years and nearly 20,000 nautical miles of development, the Energy Observer energy supply and storage system is now very reliable and we look forward to the next step of the project; get a reliable and affordable system available for our maritime community.”
The Mirai’s modular fuel cell technology has already scaled up on land to power trucks and buses.
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