St. Petersburg set to create infrastructure for all-electric passenger vessels

The concept of using passenger vessels with electric propulsion on the water routes of St. Petersburg was presented to Maxim Sokolov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg at an offsite meeting onboard a passenger ship powered by an Ecovolt engine, the city government reported.

The concept was developed by the Directorate for the Development of the Transport System of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region in conjunction with NPK Morsvyazavtomatika (MSA). The concept goal is to create a charging / recharging installations infrastructure for all-electric boats. As of now the initial data have been provided by LENENERGO for the design of 16 onshore and floating charging stations with a capacity of 150 to 2 mW with connection to the power supply networks. The meeting considered six main routes to be serviced by the vessels with electric propulsion.

A list of state support measures has already been developed for three types of vessels: Cityvolt, Ecovolt, and Ecocruiser. The support measures are the following: the provision of subsidies from the federal budget to producers of all-electric vessels, indefinite zero property and transport tax, preferential electricity cost for the electric boats at the charging stations, the temporary zero rate for use of berthing facilities for electric ships, the program of preferential leasing of all-electric vessels.

Participants of the meeting proposed to launch the laws / regulations amendments procedure at the regional level.

Kirill Polyakov, the Chairman of the local Transport Committee, noted that the all-electric vessel can be used by various executive authorities of Saint Petersburg, including for interdepartmental control inspections within the basins and coastal territory.

Maxim Sokolov supported the implementation of the concept, noting that the St. Petersburg government will provide the necessary support for its further success.

On June 27, 2020, the Ecovolt catamaran was officially launched in Saint Petersburg. This is the first all-electric passenger ship in Russia, built by the team of MSA in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Industry & Trade. The project development and construction took 1.5 years.

The all-electric boat is intended for river tourist trips and can accommodate 60 passengers. Endurance at a cruising speed 7 kn without recharging on the route: 8 hours. The maximum speed can be increased to 15 knots. The main systems of the river catamaran were developed and built by the MSA's own team.