Greta Thunberg’s dream. Swedes are building a huge sailboat to transport cars across the Atlantic
Engineers from Sweden have developed a project for a sailing cargo ship that will be able to transport 7,000 vehicles across the Atlantic with almost zero emissions.
Given the global climate change, today manufacturers of almost all types of transport are puzzled by the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere and the energy efficiency of transportation.
And if the problem with car emissions can be solved with electric cars, air transport and shipping remain the main concerns of engineers.
For example, Swedish developers recently presented a project for a cargo ship that runs only on wind energy. No, the vessel will not be equipped with wind generators to create electricity, but huge sails will be installed on it.
The sponsors of this project include the Royal Institute of Technology KTH in Stockholm, the maritime consultancy SSPA and the marine company Wallenius Marine.
The new ship is called the wind-Powered Car Carrier or wPCC, which translates to “windy car carrier”.
Engineers say wPCC will be able to transport up to 7,000 vehicles across the Atlantic while cutting emissions by 90%.
The only problem with the project is the speed of transportation: if a conventional cargo ship covers such a route in about 7 days, wPCC will need 12 days.
The wPCC still plans to install the engines that are necessary for entering the harbor and in case of emergencies. The developers assume that these will be electric motors, but this issue has yet to be resolved.
The dimensions of the ship should be 200 meters long and 40 meters wide, and the height of the ship together with sails should be about 100 meters.
Swedish engineers hope the ship will be launched in 2024.
Source: nv.ua