Battery Powered Cruise Ship Concept Revealed

At the Seatrade Cruise Global tradeshow in Miami, shipbuilder Meyer Werft debuted its Project “Vision.” This concept represents the future of cruise ships and ship design. In this case, Meyer Werft is proposing a 100% battery-powered cruise ship. Let’s dig into this new “green” cruise ship design.

Project Vision Size and Details

Project “Vision” would be the first 100% battery-electric cruise ship over 80,000. The ship would replace its traditional fuel tanks and generators with batteries. While batteries alone don’t inherently make cruising more green, for example, if the electricity to charge them comes from coal power plants, almost half of the electricity in the EU comes from renewable/green sources.  

Compared to modern cruise ships, the ships would be small. They’d be roughly 82,000 gross registered tons and 902 feet long, accommodating 1,856 guests according to the press release. Comparing that to modern ships that are sailing, this ship would be similar in size to Royal Caribbean’s Vision Class or Disney’s Magic Class.

Structurally, switching to battery power can make some big changes to the ship; the biggest being they no longer need an exhaust funnel. If the ship runs only on battery power, the top-deck space dedicated to the funnel can be converted to guest space, more loungers, pools, or attractions. Inside, the area where the exhaust pipes would come up through the ship could be used for additional guest rooms or public spaces, depending on the floor. It gives a freedom of design not possible before.

In the concept presented, Meyer Werft designed an all-weather ship with fully-glazed, weather-protected areas. For example, at the back, there’s an enclosed kids’ splash park, making it perfect for year-round European cruises.

Europe is a Key Market For This Innovation

A key driver for this innovation is the pursuit of going green in Europe. They’ve enacted the Fit for 55 legislation, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and aims for net-zero by 2050. Part of this legislation is the requirement that by 2030, all major EU cruise ports must have onshore plug-in power available to ships, significantly cutting greenhouse gases while idling, but also enabling ships like Project Vision. Meyer Werft says that “By 2030, around one hundred ports across Europe will offer the required charging infrastructure.”

The shipyard said that a battery-powered cruise ship can charge up at these ports, and it can cover a large portion of typical European cruises. They gave an example of the Barcelona to Civitavecchia (Rome) sailing being able to be done by this new ship.

This technology may also come in handy in Norway where larger ships must be zero-emission starting in 2032 in order to operate in its World Heritage Fjords (although that date has already been pushed back once).

No Ships On Order, but May Come Soon

The ship shown at Seatrade was not a firm order but a concept of what could be. That said, because it uses many technologies already in use on modern ships, it’s not something for the distant future. “If ordered this year, we could already deliver the first ship in 2031,” says Thomas Weigend, Chief Sales Officer at MEYER WERFT.

While you never see a concept built and released “as is,” it does influence future cruise ship design. The best example is possibly Fincantieri’s Project Mille. That concept was first released in 2013 by the shipyard and redesigned the cruise ship layout. They were able to reduce the ship’s beam (width) and increase its height by moving guest spaces down. That means things like the spa being on a lower level or pools on an exterior promenade rather than all on the topmost decks.

That design became the basis for several now well-known classes of ships like Virgin Voyages’ Lady Class, MSC’s Seaside Class, and Norwegian’s Prima Class.

Similarly, the Project Vision ships might influence the newest classes of ships from future cruise lines. It won’t likely be any already-announced classes of ships, though. Currently, MSC has their New Frontier Class on order from Meyer Werft to debut in 2030, and Disney has a new class of ships to debut in 2029; both earlier than the 2031 delivery date mentioned above.

The biggest problems could be the small size of the ships, since most cruise lines are now investing only in mega ships, and being stuck regionally. Ships would likely not be able to make a transatlantic sailing on battery power, meaning once these ships are built, they’ll likely stay in Europe for their entire lives, taking out some of the flexibility.

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