America's Cup Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ for short) hoisted their prototype hydrogen-powered hydrofoil chaser into the water at their Auckland base on March 31, ETNZ team member Andrea Joy named her "Chase" in front of many teams Zero" (chasing zero).
"Chase Zero" is the first boat to be launched during this America's Cup cycle, and ETNZ hopes this boat will lay the foundation for a huge shift in global powerboating to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
"I hope we can look back on this event today as the beginning of the hydrogen boat revolution," ETNZ sustainability ambassador and project supporter Sir Stephen Tindall said before the boat was hoisted into the water for the first time. "
After successfully innovating the AC75 monohull and successfully defending the 36th America's Cup, Chief New Zealand Chief Executive Grant Dalton said: "What's next? How can we leverage the talent and technology available at ETNZ and continue to drive innovation and technology forward. boundary?"
With the AC75 class already locked in for the next America's Cup and continuing to move towards a more sustainable future, the focus soon shifted to water chase boats. When measuring the carbon emissions of the last carbon-zero certified team, it became clear that the chase boats contributed quite a bit to the overall emissions.
As a result, people began to pay attention to hydrogen-powered chase boats. Initial enquiries received indicated that this was not the 12-month project the team was looking for.
“We were basically told that a bold project like Chase Zero would take 3.5 to 4 years, but it actually took us a little over nine months,” said project manager Geoff Senior.
"We certainly didn't expect to be so focused on working after AC36. But I guess it's just part of our culture and the best way to work at the New Zealand Chiefs, so it's very exciting to be able to get to this stage and it's really exciting for the pair A huge milestone for the team.
We put a lot of effort into building the boat at our build facility, and the equipment team at the base put a lot of effort into putting all the powertrain components and hardware in there.
I don't think we realize its importance. I don't think there are any other similar boats around. The next ship like this is a long way off, so I think once it's running in the water, we'll realize how important it is on the world stage.
Projects like this don't happen by accident, the "Chase Zero" will cruise at 35 knots and top speed in excess of 50 knots, the result of the team and several key partners involved.
Richard Meacham, who addressed the team and partners at the launch, said: "It's not just the people on this team that enable us to do what we do, it's our partners And relationships. When this crazy concept and plan was presented to some of the partners here today, they didn't hold back. There was a consensus that if something isn't difficult, then it's not worth doing. Toyota, Gurit composite, Companies such as Global Bus have contributed greatly to the 'Chase Zero' in their own way."
Toyota has been a partner of Emirates Team New Zealand for over 30 years and has been instrumental in facilitating access to two vital fuel cells.
Neeraj Lala, chief executive of Toyota New Zealand, said: "We are supporting our long-term partner Emirates Team New Zealand by supplying them with a hydrogen fuel cell system as a way to study different applications of this carbon neutral technology. We have obtained from Toyota Motor Corporation Two prototype units for ETNZ trials, which are still in pre-production stage.
"We are delighted to see the boat launch as a showcase of Toyota's hydrogen technology capabilities. Toyota is focusing on helping advance hydrogen technology and its development in New Zealand through commercial partners such as the ETNZ fuel cell chase boat, which is The banner of our Toyota hydrogen project."
Now, Chase Zero will undergo an extensive commissioning and testing phase at the terminal over the next week or so, testing and running the prototype system before launching it to the Waitemata port in the coming weeks.
"Chase Zero" is the world's first hydrogen-powered hydrofoil, promising the speed and range of a gasoline-powered cruiser with zero harmful emissions. Is this hydrogen-powered boat the answer to sustainable yachting?
The America's Cup may be the pinnacle of sailing, but it wasn't the obvious starting point for a revolution in powerboat design. However, that's exactly what current holders New Zealand Chiefs hope for.
To bring the race closer to a wider audience while limiting the carbon footprint of its high-energy gasoline chase boats, it changed the rules to require any team to have at least two hydrogen-powered chase boats.
Given that no one has yet built a hydrogen-powered boat that can fly, let alone 50 knots, that's no mean feat. However, by making it part of the protocol, ETNZ hopes to kickstart the industry's move towards a zero carbon future.
"Chase Zero" will begin sea trials in a few weeks. If all goes according to plan, the hydrofoil will soon carry a crew of six, fly over the water at 50 knots and discharge only water.
Unlike most range-limited electric boats on the market today, this electric hydrogen-powered boat can cruise up to 180 kilometers (97.2 nautical miles) at 35 knots.
The secret to this 33-foot-long blazing speed and range lies in two 80kW fuel cells supplied by Toyota. Originally designed for use in Mirai cars, the 300-kilogram units combine hydrogen stored in the car with oxygen in the air through a catalyst, converting the hydrogen into 400 volts of direct current. The only by-product is H2O - water. The electricity produced is then either stored in batteries or fed directly into two 220kW (295hp) Emrax electric motors.
Like the fuel cells, the units are mounted in the two hulls of the catamaran, with the drive shaft moving down the hydrofoil struts to a bevel gear that transmits power to a pair of Mercury propeller drives.
The reason for using fuel cells instead of simpler battery-powered systems is that hydrogen has a higher energy density. ETNZ calculated that even with drag-reducing hydrofoils, it would require 470 kWh of energy to run the America's Cup pursuit boat's 4-hour/180-kilometer cycle.
The batteries needed to store that much energy would weigh three tons, require more energy to achieve the necessary performance, and push the project into a vortex of diminishing returns.
The hydrogen needed to generate this much energy weighs just 32kg and is stored in four high-pressure carbon fiber tanks at 350 bar (5,076 psi). Even taking into account the weight of the fuel tank and the two 300kg fuel cells, the hydrogen-powered boat still offers significant weight savings.
But it still requires a small battery, partly because of the delay in delivering the required power from the fuel cell, and partly to provide a temporary boost that pushes the fuel cell's 160kW output to a peak 420kW (563hp) for maximum acceleration.
Another advantage of hydrogen is that it is not only a clean fuel, it can also be produced sustainably by using electricity to split water back into hydrogen and oxygen. Of course, this only holds if the electricity is also a sustainable source, but the potential is clear.
In many ways, hydrogen-fueled ships are more attractive than battery-powered ships.
The superior energy density and relative abundance of hydrogen make it theoretically possible to build hydrogen-powered boats of all sizes, with range and performance similar to the gasoline and diesel-powered boats we enjoy today.
The limiting factor is the size and mass of the high pressure storage tank required. The solution to this problem might be to store denser liquid hydrogen in an insulated tank at -252°C, rather than a larger volume of compressed gas.
You can even burn hydrogen in a conventional internal combustion engine without emitting carbon monoxide, although the resulting excess heat produces some NOx emissions and makes it less efficient than a fuel cell (about 30% of the energy is converted to electricity, The efficiency of fuel cells is 50%).
What are the disadvantages of hydrogen powered boats?
Hydrogen-powered ships are not without challenges, the main three being cost, lack of infrastructure, and safety concerns over volatile high-pressure gases during storage and fueling.
A hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai costs £49,995, compared to £30,000 for a typical petrol-powered car, although that premium can be much higher for a boat, At least until they're made in sufficient quantities to keep costs down.
Lack of infrastructure can also be addressed over time. Unlike electricity, hydrogen can be stored indefinitely and can be produced locally in small-scale factories or centrally in solar farms and then transported to the point of use.
Safety is difficult to quantify, however, because although hydrogen is flammable (the Hindenburg disaster was an example), high-pressure gas systems can leak more easily than low-pressure fuel lines, and there are many gasoline-powered cars driving safely, but gasoline vapor It can be more dangerous to sink into the bilge, while hydrogen is lighter than air and dissipates more easily.
Regardless of the pros and cons of hydrogen-powered ships, if ETNZ can demonstrate the potential of the Chase Zero as a viable fossil-fuel-free ship, it could facilitate the development of promising new technologies.
