A rendering of a fully-electrified Chinese vessel at the port of Suzhou – credit CATL ©
A Chinese conglomerate that controls 37% of global market for EV batteries has recently said it will “spare no effort” to electrify parts of the marine shipping industry.
The costs of lithium ions have fallen 90% over the past two decades, epitomizing the overall reductions in the costs of batteries that have facilitated the resulting boom in EVs.
In all that, however, little has been done to investigate battery-powered maritime usage. It’s for a good reason in that batteries produce lower-density energy than heavy fuels used to power container ships or tugboats. Displacing water requires a lot more umph than displacing air.
Now CATL, which also controls some 22% of the world’s energy storage system, is planning to double its maritime applications division in order to pioneer early battery systems for near-shore vessels.
“We will spare no effort in investing in R&D, human resources and materials to build the supply chain for this industry,” said Su Yi, who leads the group’s Maritime Business Unit.
The International Maritime Organization aims to halve the industry’s share of global emissions from shipping to 1.5% from 3% by 2050, a goal which up until now has been approached with greener fuels such as green methanol and hydrogen.
In 2024, GNN reported that consortium of Japanese firms successfully conducted a demonstration of the first ever zero-emissions ship above 20 gross tons when the pilot sailed it 30 kilometers, (18 miles) out to an offshore windfarm and back.
A year earlier, GNN reported that global shipping leader Maersk ordered a green methanol powered ship two years ago and had already placed an order for 25 more methanol-powered vessels in addition to retrofitting existing ships with methanol engines and turbines.
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Su told the Financial Times that the current focus is to produce the batteries with the extreme requirements of powering large vessels near shore. In addition to requiring maximum discharge rate, the batteries would need to last long and remain safe in ocean conditions.
CATL reported impressive 2025 earnings, with 42% year-over-year growth in revenues that topped $10 billion off the back of demand for data centers and energy storage. Su didn’t provide timelines or sales targets, but merely mentioned that she and her team were confidant there’d be market demand.
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Its existing strategy since 2017 has been a battery-swap model whereby near-shore vessels like tugs can swap their batteries at a station for a fully-charged one to enable ’round-the-clock operations.
The group had seen previous success with such a model in their long-haul trucking division. Previously, the company developed hybrid battery-fossil fuel solutions for still water and near-shore vessels, as well as cruise ships.
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