Completed Clean Energy Materials & Manufacturing

Commercialisation of Zero Emission Ship Propulsion system

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A British company is building zero-emission hybrid propulsion systems for commercial ships, aiming to cut 1 million tonnes of CO₂ from the marine industry within a decade. The problem is straightforward: marine engines are highly polluting, and the shipping sector—which underpins international trade and the global economy—has been slow to decarbonise. Ecomar Propulsion Ltd is developing fully functional prototypes, building on successful feasibility studies, with the goal of production-ready solutions by 2022. These systems will be trialled in real-world environments. If the project succeeds, the immediate impact is a rapid route to electrifying and decarbonising existing ship engines, directly cutting carbon pollution. Beyond that, it could stimulate growth in high-value UK manufacturing, engineering, and tourism jobs—helping replace those lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work also strengthens the wider UK green supply chain in a dynamic sector. By shifting from fossil-fuelled economies toward net-zero shipping, the project supports a critical industrial transition that keeps supply chains and international trade running while reducing their environmental cost.

View original technical description
Ecomar Propulsion Ltd is developing UK manufactured zero emission hybrid propulsion systems for commercial ship operators. Our ambition is 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 engines to support sustainable recovery and resilience of the maritime sector to sustain jobs, international trade, and the global economy. We aim to maximise the advantages of a change to a green economy and push towards a net zero carbon shipping industry. British innovations provide rapid routes to change, stimulating growth in high value tourism, engineering and manufacturing jobs to replace those lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will help to develop the wider UK "Green" supply chain in an increasingly dynamic sector. Non-polluting propulsion systems will offset carbon pollution and job losses. Changes to major industrial sectors like shipping are the foundation for the future. This project helps drive a critical change of emphasis from fossil fuelled economies to a green economy. Building on successful feasibility studies, this project will deliver fully functional prototypes which will be trialled in real-world environments, advancing towards production-ready solutions by 2022\. Outputs will drive valuable intellectual property, new products, a major increase in UK manufacturing activity and progress towards net zero economic growth.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Commercial vessels - conversion to clean propulsion - Feasibility Study
Twin motor, zero emission powertrain for commercial workboats
Electric marine propulsion and energy system - Customer validation and testing
Demonstrator for scalable 1MW+ Zero Emission battery-hydrogen hybrid propulsion system
Project ZERO - Zero Emission Research and Offshore Service Vessel

Original classification

Small Business Research Initiative

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