More modern battery chemistries are less hazardous as well. LFP for example is both cheaper and more stable, just at the cost of energy density. Which might be fine if you have a giant ship that can handle a large volume and mass of batteries to save on fuel costs.
replyI hear you and while this is out of scope for the article a lot of sailing yachts are being converted to electric motors.
replyfor sailing yachts that makes sense. They would use wind for most movement. While in harbor though they want the finer control that being under power allows - they don't need high speed/high power then though. They also don't spend a lot of time in this situation.
replyElectric tugs are now a thing to do similar for big ships.
replyA step before that is to have shore power to run things when in port.
In general stopping pollution near populated areas and busy ports is a bigger win and so a good place to start.
I think sailing uses mainly some other kind of energy source.
replyRight. And sailing container ships seem to also be coming back into vogue.
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