The Ships That Move Global Trade Are Going Electric

In Jules Verne’s classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo’s futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, is battery-powered. Electric shipping has remained science fiction ever since.

That might be about to change, though. The Ning Yuan Dian Kun, an electric container ship capable of carrying 740 20-foot-equivalent units or TEUs,1was delivered earlier this month. Its 10 containerized batteries hold as much charge as 380 Tesla Model 3s, and can either be swapped at port or charged from shore-based cables.