Lithium-ion batteries are at the heart of nearly every electric vehicle, laptop and smartphone, and they are essential to storing renewable energy in the face of the climate emergency. Leclanché SA has developed a new generation of lithium-ion battery modules for energy intensive e-transport applications, such as marine, commercial vehicle and railway. The company is committed to accelerating their progress towards a cleaner energy future.
Swiss company Leclanché, a leading provider of energy storage solutions, designs and manufactures battery systems for a wide range of infrastructure and vehicles around the world. These include «Ellen», the world’s largest all-electric ferry, which has been shuttling between the Danish ports of Søby and Fynshav since 2019. The ferry is powered by Leclanché’s battery system, which provides zero carbon transportation with no fuel or exhaust smells on board. The battery system enables the ferry to travel 41 kilometres: seven times longer than any other e-ferry route. The Ellen can carry up to 200 people and around 40 vehicles. The e-ferry and its highly innovative battery system, which were partly developed in Switzerland, are helping to reduce the volume of diesel used on ferry routes.
Thanks to Leclanché’s expertise, Ellen is powered by batteries with an unprecedented capacity of 4.4MWh that take roughly 30 minutes to recharge. As part of this ambitious project, Leclanché also developed advanced safety technology, including a unique fire prevention system. To stop the batteries from catching fire, foam is automatically injected to cool the temperature if it rises above a certain level. The fleet of e-ferries represents an important milestone for zero-carbon water transportation. Thanks to the expertise of Leclanché and its partners, other similar projects are expected to follow.