Slippery Solar Car Carrier Saves 13 Tons Of Fuel Each Trip
Nissan has unveiled a new roll-on/roll-off car carrier that promises to save more fuel than any vehicle on board possibly could.
Used in Japan to deliver cars domestically to the ports of Yokohama, Kobe and Kyushu, the Nichioh Maru roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) is the length of one and a half football fields and can carry 1,380 cars. Such carriers are common in Europe, and are beginning to gain traction in the US.
During the four years it took to build, it’s been outfitted with a number of fuel-saving features that reduce CO2 emissions by 18 percent over a conventional RoRo.
On the carrier’s deck are 281 solar panels that power on-board amenities including LED lights in the ship’s hold and crew areas. The ship also features a low-friction coating on its hull that improves the fuel mileage it can achieve on the sea. Nissan estimates those efficiencies would save up to thirteen tons of fuel for each round trip. For those thirteen tons, what do you get?
We’ll spare you the math, but assuming that the average grade of diesel has a density of 0.85kg/L, each round trip saves about 4,000 gallons of fuel. That’s the equivalent of 100,000 miles in an oil-burner that gets 25 mpg. For the average American, each round trip the RoRo makes equals about eight years of driving. Considering that the ship makes two round trips a week, it’s like taking 104 cars off the road.
“As Nissan went to the effort to launch the Nissan Leaf at that time, in terms of the logistical flow, we thought there would be a way for us to contribute using state-of-the-art technologies,” said Tomohiko Uchiyama, president of Nitto Kaiun Corporation, the ship’s operator.
Even if there’s an all-electric Leaf on board, it couldn’t match the fuel savings of the Nichioh Maru herself.
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Photo/Video: Nissan
Via: Autopia
