Classification society DNV GL has launched a Joint Development Project (JDP), designed to advance the understanding of the use of lithium-ion batteries in the shipping industry. More than a dozen partners from the entire value chain have joined the initiative, including flag states, research institutions, battery and propulsion suppliers, fire detection and extinguishing system providers, and ship owners, operators and yards.

Including batteries in ships, whether as a hybrid or fully electric system, offers the industry the opportunity to improve fuel economy, reliability and operational costs. For this technology to fully take hold, however, knowledge and requirements must be in place to ensure that we have products and a safety regime that address the concerns of all stakeholders while also creating the conditions for this technology to take off in the market.

—Geir Dugstad, Director of Ship Classification and Technical Director in DNV GL – Maritime

We put a great deal of effort into ensuring the safety of these new alternative systems, but the cost of the present safety and approval methodology is cumbersome. This collaborative effort gives a chance for an even greater level of safety while also ensuring that these new and advanced technologies can be implemented to a greater extent.

—Rasmus Nielsen, Naval Architect and Officer at Scandlines

The JDP brings together stakeholders from across the whole maritime industry, creating a deep pool of expertise, knowledge and experience from many different perspectives to develop a greater understanding of the challenges and requirements of expanding the use of batteries in the maritime realm. At the end of the JDP the partners hope that they will have enhanced their own understanding so as to optimize their own products and services, while also created a set of inputs that can be taken up by the industry to not only push the development of the batteries themselves, but the associated systems, procedures, and approval processes. The JDP officially kicked off at the end of 2017, with major tasks defined as follows:

1. Safety Model Development and Assessment Based on Prior Knowledge

2. Concerted lithium-ion Battery Risk Assessment

3. Battery Safety Testing Program

4. Battery Safety Simulation and Analysis Tool Development and Refinement

5. Project Management, Dissemination, Input to Requirements and Rules

The project will wrap up with dissemination activities in 2019.

Project Partners include:

• Norwegian Maritime Authority
• Danish Maritime Authority
• Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt, FFI)
• Corvus Energy, maritime battery systems vendor
• Plan B (PBES), maritime battery systems vendor
• FIFI4MARINE, lithium-ion fire extinguishing system provider
• Nexceris, developer of battery off-gas sensing technology
• Rolls Royce Marine AS, propulsion and system technology provider
• ABB, propulsion and system technology provider
• Stena, ferry owner and operator
• Scandlines, ferry owner and operator, including largest maritime battery installation in the world
• Damen, ship builder
• DNV GL