After the disaster of the Felicity Ace, the freighter that sank early last year after an electric car on board was believed to have caught fire, there has been discussion about whether electric cars are safe enough to take on ferries. A Norwegian shipping company has now been the first to announce a ban.
The discussion about an allegedly high risk of electric cars in parking garages, but also on board ships, for example, has been going on for some time. However, the situation became even more explosive after freighter Felicity Ace caught fire last year with hundreds of expensive Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Porsches and a number of electric cars on board. The latter were suspected of having caused the huge fire.
Ironically, shipping company Havila Kystruten from the electric pioneer country of Norway (almost 80 percent of newly registered cars there had an electric drive in 2020) now bans electric cars, hybrids and hydrogen vehicles on their ferries. The ferries operate along the coast from Kirkenes to Bergen on the so-called “mail boat route”, which is popular with tourists.
LOOK. Footage from the Portuguese Air Force showed the crew of the Felicity Ace being evacuated
“Extinguishing on board too complex”
According to Norwegian media has informed the shipping company that any fire on board would lead to a very complex rescue operation that the ship’s crew would not be able to handle. The reason for the ban is probably the sinking of the Felicity Ace, it sounds.
Although electric vehicles do not pose a greater fire risk than combustion engine cars, these types of fires are different and, above all, more difficult to extinguish. In particular, a considerably larger quantity of fire extinguishing water is required for this. While a burning petrol or diesel vehicle can be extinguished with 1,600 to 2,000 liters of water, an e-car often requires as much as 11,000 liters – mainly to cool down the burning battery.
In extreme cases, the burning electric car is sunk up to the top edge in fire extinguishing water, for example in a container. An effort that is hardly possible on board a ship.
For the time being, only shipping company Havila has spoken out in favor of a ban on electric cars on board. It is not yet known whether other ferry companies will follow suit.
TT-Line does exactly the opposite
Remarkably enough, shipping company TT-Line, which operates between Sweden, Lithuania, Poland and Germany, also follows exactly the opposite route.
The company installs charging stations for electric vehicles on board their ships. These so-called ‘Green Ships’ are equipped with 32 charging stations that charge the car batteries with 40 kW direct current or 11 kW alternating current while sailing.
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