Completed Clean Energy Materials & Manufacturing

Twin motor, zero emission powertrain for commercial workboats

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Ecomar Propulsion LTD
Funding £1.4M
Period Aug 2021 — Mar 2022

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A consortium led by Ecomar Propulsion aims to remove 1 million tonnes of CO₂ from the marine industry within 10 years by electrifying workboats with twin engines running on electricity and hydrogen. The problem is straightforward: commercial workboats—tugboats, ferries, service vessels—burn diesel in large quantities, producing significant carbon emissions. Electrifying these vessels is technically challenging because they need high power and reliable operation in harsh conditions. Current battery-only solutions lack the range and power density for demanding marine work. If successful, this project would replace dirty diesel propulsion with zero-emission powertrains in a sector that rarely gets public attention but quietly moves goods, people, and equipment around UK ports and coastal waters. The impact extends beyond carbon reduction: the consortium expects to create high-value engineering and manufacturing jobs in some of the UK's most deprived regions, strengthen the domestic green supply chain, and improve the UK's balance of trade by exporting marine propulsion technology. The work builds on existing UK marine engineering expertise to produce fully functional machines capable of operating reliably in dangerous environments. The project is applied engineering with a clear commercial and environmental target—not fundamental science—but its success would mark a critical shift from fossil-fuelled to green propulsion in a hard-to-decarbonise industry.

View original technical description
A consortium formed by Ecomar Propulsion with SERCO and the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth are working on a joint project to remove 1 million tonnes of CO2 from the marine industry within 10 years. The project will rapidly electrify and de-carbonise highly polluting marine workboats using powerful twin engines using only electricity and hydrogen as fuels. This is a major step in the move towards sustainable economic recovery and resilience of the maritime sector. The project will help to create new high value jobs in the green economy and assist in making a positive balance of trade calculation for the UK. The group aim to maximise the speed of Britains shift towards a green economy and push towards a net zero carbon shipping industry. British innovations from this project will provide growth in high value engineering and manufacturing jobs in some of the UK's most deprived regions and aims to replace dirty industries in a bid to prevent climate change. The project will help to develop the wider UK "Green" supply chain and makes the UK a leader in an increasingly dynamic sector. Non-polluting propulsion will rapidly reduce maritime carbon pollution and prevent job losses. Changes to major industrial sectors like shipping are the foundation for clean economies of the future. This project helps drive a critical change of emphasis from fossil fuelled economies to a green economy. Building on the UK's existing expertise, this project will deliver world class, fully functional machines, capable of operating reliably in the most dangerous environments. Outputs will drive valuable intellectual property, new industrial growth and a major increase in UK maritime manufacturing activity and global progress towards net zero.

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Original classification

Collaborative R&D

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.