International Transportation | Collection 2022 46 SCIENCE & RESEARCH Academics Projects in a nutshell Overview of selected mobility research and projects Artemis Technologies unveils 100% electric passenger ferry N ew 24 metre vessels designed and built by the maritime design and applied technologies company Artemis Technologies represent ground-breaking green innovations for commercial ferries, radically different from traditional ferries in operation. The vessels should transform the global passenger ferry market as it races to decarbonise. Riding above the waves results in a comfortable ride, reducing effects of seasickness. First EF-24 Passenger ferry will be operated by Condor Ferries in 2024. This ferry is among several zero-emission vessels being developed by Artemis Technologies in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed to provide commercially viable green transport solutions for operators, cities and governments across the world. With a top speed of 38 knots, the EF-24 Passenger ferry offers a range of 115 nautical miles at a 25 knots cruise speed and produces incredible fuel savings of up to 85% compared to conventional high-speed diesel ferries. Powered by the patented Artemis eFoiler electric propulsion system, the 24 metre vessels will “fly” above the water, providing a comfortable ride for up to 150 passengers on board, mitigating effects of seasickness and producing minimal wake at high-speed, significantly reducing the impact on shorelines. Artemis Technologies is a spin-off from the Artemis Racing team that competed in the America’s Cup of which its founder, twotime Olympic champion Dr Iain Percy Obe is a four-time veteran. He says: “We have combined our experience from the worlds of high-performance sailing, motorsports, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing to design and develop an electric propulsion system that is quite simply a game changer for the maritime industry.” And in view of the propulsion system: “With hydrofoils that lift the boats out of the water, we are dramatically reducing drag. This is coupled with a submerged electric drivetrain that is exceptionally efficient, as proven through rigorous testing with our 12 metre eFoiler workboat, validating our digital simulations and performance prediction.” The ferries will be fully accessible, incredibly spacious with a range of facilities on board including bike racks, cabin bag and overhead storage, baby changing facilities, and charging points. The vessels will also feature a unique high-speed collision avoidance system developed with ECIT, part of Queen’s University Belfast. The system will ensure the safety of operations in port and close to shore by safely diverting the ferry on an altered path away from sea life, wildlife, debris and other in-water objects that might otherwise be obscured from view. Artemis Technologies has partnered with Condor Ferries to operate a pilot scheme using the first EF-24 Passenger ferry, runinng between Belfast and Bangor in Northern Ireland from 2024 on. Iain Percy Obe: “Many water-based cities around the world are grappling with the challenge of growing populations, congestion, and pollution. The EF-24 Passenger can provide an immediate green transport solution that competes economically with road and rail in places like San Francisco, New York, Venice, Istanbul, Dubai, and Singapore - anywhere around the globe that is seeking sustainable transport alternatives that balance the requirement for people to continue to move around with the need to reduce carbon emissions. Especially where new infrastructure is required like a new road or rail line, this ferry will not only be the cheapest, but also the fastest and least disruptive way to decarbonise transport networks in water-based cities.” Earlier this year on its continued mission towards the decarbonisation of maritime, Artemis Technologies launched the world’s largest 100 % electric foiling vessel, ‘Pioneer of Belfast’ and unveiled an electric workboat range including a 12 metre multi-purpose workboat and a 12 metre crew transfer vessel with a 24 metre crew transfer vessel also currently under development. www.artemistechnologies.co.uk EF-24 Passenger ferry Picture: Artemis Technologies International Transportation | Collection 2022 47 Academics SCIENCE & RESEARCH Systems solutions for hydrogen engines G erman technology group Mahle believes that by the year 2035 about 30% of all commercial vehicles worldwide will be purely electric with batteries or fuel cells. At the IAA Transportation trade fair in Hanover, Germany, the automotive supplier was premiering its new SCT electric motor (Superior Continuous Torque), which provides extremely high continuous power and is therefore especially suited to commercial vehicles. In addition, Mahle was presenting a new systems solution for cleaner combustion engines which can also be fueled with hydrogen - among others. “We provide the transport sector’s necessary contribution to climate protection through a realistic and technology-neutral view of customers and markets,” says Michael Frick, Chairman of the Management Board and CFO. The commercial vehicle sector is with about 20 % of the total sales a significant business area. In addition to the fuel cell, the use of hydrogen as a combustion fuel has the potential to make many heavy-duty and off-highway applications climate-neutral particularly quickly. Hydrogen engines are ideal for high load cycles with sudden load steps and handle heat, contamination and vibration well. At Mahle, more than 100 years of experience flow into the development of the necessary engine components. A new power cell unit was presented for the first time at the IAA — a system consisting of pistons, piston rings, conrods, pins and, if necessary, a cylinder liner as well as a high-pressure impactor for flushing the crankcase. This means that hydrogen can be used highly efficiently and safely in combustion engines with a long service life. www.mahle.com Hydrogen combustion components Picture: Mahle Group Clean Hydrogen: A long-awaited solution for hard-to-abate sectors? O ne of the world’s biggest climate challenges is decarbonizing fossil energy uses that cannot be directly electrified using renewable power. Among so-called “hard-to-abate” (HTA) sectors are major industries that rely on fossil fuels, either for high-temperature energy or for chemical feedstocks, together responsible for approximately 30% of the world’s annual CO 2 emissions. Another HTA sector is heavy-duty transportation such as trucking and shipping, which is harder to electrify than passenger transport because it would require enormous batteries that add to vehicle weight and take a long time to charge. As countries examine pathways towards decarbonization, relatively wealthy ones like the U.S. and much of Europe are pursuing strategies focused on renewable power generation and electric vehicles. China faces significantly different challenges due to a distinctive carbon emission profile resulting from the much larger roles that HTA heavy industries play in its economy. New research published in Nature Energy examines how China - by far the largest producer of iron, steel, cement, and building materials - can potentially utilize clean hydrogen (“green” and “blue” hydrogen) to decarbonize HTA sectors, and aid in achieving its 2030 and 2060 decarbonization pledges. Green hydrogen is made by splitting water molecules H 2 O - using renewable electricity, while blue hydrogen is produced conventionally, from fossil fuels, but combined with carbon capture and storage. The new paper from the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment, a U.S.-China collaborative research program based at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is the first study to date that uses an integrated modeling approach to evaluate the potential use of clean hydrogen across China’s energy system and economy, in order to meet its 2060 net-zero target. The study evaluated three questions: What are the key challenges of decarbonizing HTA sectors? What are the prospective roles for clean hydrogen as both an energy carrier and feedstock in HTA sectors? And would widespread application of clean hydrogen in HTA sectors be cost-effective compared to other options? To analyze the cost-effectiveness and role of clean hydrogen across China’s entire economy the team built a model of an integrated energy system that includes supply and demand across sectors. Results show that a widespread application of clean hydrogen in HTA sectors can help China achieve carbon neutrality costeffectively compared to a scenario without clean hydrogen production and use. Clean hydrogen can save USD 1.72 trillion in investment costs and avoid a 0.13% loss in the aggregate GDP (2020-2060) compared to a pathway without it. The researchers also examined the type of clean hydrogen - green or blue - that would be most cost effective. Their study indicates that the average cost of China’s green hydrogen can be reduced to USD 2 per kg of hydrogen by 2037 and USD 1.2 per kg by 2050, when it will be much more cost-effective than blue hydrogen (USD 1.9 per kg). “China has rich untapped resources of solar and wind energy, both onshore and offshore,” explains Chris P. Nielsen, co-author of the paper and Executive Director of the Harvard-China Project. “These resources give China advantages towards developing green hydrogen for use in its industrial and transportation sectors.” www.nature.com/ articles/ s41560-022-01114-6 Picture: Akidata21 / pixabay International Transportation | Collection 2022 48 SCIENCE & RESEARCH Academics Trials with world’s first urban autonomous passenger ferry T he autonomous passenger ferry “milli- Ampere 2”, developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, is running shuttle traffic across the main channel in Trondheim until mid- October. The public can jump on board during the trial period and test the new technology, while researchers survey the public’s experiences. This is the first time a self-propelled electric passenger ferry has been put into trial operation along urban waterways. The technology has the potential to revitalize public transport in a sustainable way by using urban waterways in a new way, says Morten Breivik, an associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Engineering Cybernetics: “This is the first step towards a new form of micromobility in cities with urban waterways. - In the longer term, the technology can be further developed to create green, flexible and cost-effective transport along the entire Norwegian coast.” Breivik plays a key role in the interdisciplinary environment at NTNU that has developed the technology. The NTNU ferry was developed by researchers and students from several academic areas who collaborated to develop milliAmpere 2 and its precursor milliAmpere that was Norway’s very first prototype of an autonomous ferry, milliAmpere was built in 2016. Egil Eide, an associate professor at the Department of Electronic Systems, says that the team gained a lot of experience from the first version. The new milliAmpere 2 is significantly larger than its predecessor, has more advanced technology located under the deck along with a new, improved design. A number of sensors such as rangefinders, cameras, laser vision and radar are mounted on deck so that the automation system receives enough data about the surroundings to avoid collisions with land or other vessels. In addition, sensors have been installed that will give an operator in a landbased control room a good enough understanding of the situation to be able to take over control should the need arise. The passenger ferry has room for 20 people, but will be limited to a maximum of 12 passengers on board during the trial operation. Several countries are showing interest in the autonomous passenger ferry technology for urban areas. A delegation from France was in Trondheim this spring to look at the possibilities for acquiring and putting such passenger ferries into operation along the river Seine during the 2024 Olympics. www.ntnu.edu Picture: Kai T. Dragland / NTNU Picture: Siemens Mobility Digitalization and automation for driverless regional trains I n a project that will run until the end of 2024, Siemens (consortium leader) and 16 partners will facilitate advances in the driverless operation of regional trains with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI). Within the “safe.trAIn” project, which the German government is subsidizing, there is a budget of EUR 23 million available for this task. Solutions for meeting the requirements in this highly regulated and standardized environment have the potential to substantially boost the efficiency and sustainability of regional railway transportation. The digitalization and automation of train operation within the existing rail network is a key lever for rapidly achieving successful outcomes. The improvements being targeted range from shorter headways - and thus more flexibility for passengers as a result of more frequent intervals between trains - to greater cost efficiency, and they extend all the way to a clear increase in the availability of rail transportation. Based on the state of the art, conventional automation technology alone will not be enough to enable fully automatic railway operation. Artificial intelligence, however, offers major potential in this area. The challenge that has remained unresolved to date is that of finding a practicable way to link AI methodologies to the requirements and approval processes that apply in railway environments. This is where the “safe.trAIn” project comes into play. This project aims to lay a foundation for safe use of AI for driverless operation of rail vehicles and to thus address a key technological challenge hindering the adoption of driverless rail transportation. Until now, solutions for completely driverless and unattended operation of trains have been successfully operating exclusively in controlled and closed environments, such as subway tunnels. The safe.trAIn project is focusing on applying this technology for use in regional trains. Such trains operate in more open environments in which it is necessary, in particular, to reliably recognize obstructions - such as people on the lines as well as fallen trees or mudslides on the tracks, etc. The project goals are to perform integrated development of testing standards and of methods for using AI to automate rail transportation and to use example applications to verify the suitability of test standards. Focal points here will be on AI-based methods for driverless regional trains, approval-relevant validation of the product safety of the AI components, as well as testing processes and testing methods. Safe. trAIn will build on the results from the latest research and development activities and will continue the development of those activities in line with the new requirements. Important projects in this area are Shift- 2Rail, BerDiBa, ATO-Sense and ATO-Risk, and KI-Absicherung (“AI safeguarding”). www.siemens.com