The pressure to find alternative fuels and hence consequently also alternative drives, driven by both emissions legislation and resulting commercial pressures that threatens to drive up the cost of all kinds of fuels, is as well impacting on the ship design market. Another new electric passenger vessel, the "Ar Vag Tredan" ordered by Lorient City Council (Brittany, France) is most definitely a technological breakthrough for the design and construction of “zero emission” ships. This 22 meter vessel is aimed at passenger transportation in the intracostals waterways around Lorient, from the city centre to the entrance of the roadstead, two and a half nautical miles away. This ship represent a significant improvement compared to existing fully electric ships operated on short and distances in harbour areas or inland waterways. Based on supercapacitor technology developed and patented by STX Europe, the naval architecture and ship design of the new ferry have been developed by t... [More]