Norwegian transport company, Havila Kystruten has banned electric and hybrid cars from its ferry. The shipowner indicates that the ban was taken after an audit by an external company and is due to safety issues, in the event of a fire battery cars are much harder to extinguish.
The decision is all the more surprising as the ferry itself is made with hybrid technology – the vessel is powered by an electric propulsion system, fed by energy from huge batteries weighing 86 tonnes and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine.
The carrier points out that the batteries to power the vessel, are specially isolated from the rest of the ship and include a special fire protection system. Some commentators note that it is the presence of huge batteries to propel the ferry that may be the reason for the stringent safety regulations.
There is also the not insignificant fact that early last year there was a fire on a car carrier that burned to the ground near the Azores archipelago. Although electric cars do not succumb to fires more often than those powered by internal combustion engines, the former are much more difficult to extinguish in the event of a possible ignition.
