Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) and Miller Marine, Inc. of Deltaville, Va. have teamed to design and construct a fully electric truckable tug, the companies revealed Nov. 29.
“The versatile vessel is purposefully designed as a multi-functional utility boat servicing marine construction sites, tending dredges, tending buoys, short range ferry operations and other near shore operations such as crew transportation or line handling,” the companies explained in a news release.
EBDG has said that it plans to incorporate an electrical propulsion system into Miller Marine’s truckable tug design. Once the design phase is complete, Miller Marine would build the vessel at its 15,000 square foot production facility, EBDG said.
The vessel has an overall length of just under 26 feet and will be powered by two permanent magnet motors with a total power of 300-plus kW (400-plus HP). Shore power would be used to recharge the vessel’s battery banks overnight, taking no more than eight hours.
On a full charge, the vessel will operate with contingency for 12-plus hours. A closed-loop fluid cooling system would provide temperature control of the batteries, motors and electronics, maximizing their lifetime.
The electric tug is intended to support public and private enterprise marine construction operations, as well as short-range logistics.