Tomorrow's tourist vessels

Fantan Catamaran Oy, a Finnish company that designs and manufactures environmentally friendly motor catamarans, in cooperation with Randax Oy and European Batteries Oy, has developed an efficient, fully electronic power pack concept. The first prototype has been installed in a 100-seat tourism vessel which is 16 meters long and weighs 18,000 kg. Its fuel consumption at a normal cruising speed of six knots is 5 l/h. Operating on electricity only, Randax® - drives and EB batteries provide the vessel with an operation time of three hours at a six-knot cruising speed, which is sufficient for the needs of the company that has ordered the vessel, Lake & Snow Inari Oy, and their most popular cruise product, a cruise to the ancient sacrificial site Ukonkivi. The new boat will start to operate on Lake Inari in June 2011.

The vessel’s power supply line consists of a Randax® generator mounted on a 55 kW diesel engine, two Randax propulsion drives, EB lithium-ion batteries and the power electronics required. The electrical energy produced by the combustion engine and the generator is stored in EB lithium-ion cells. From these cells, the energy is directed, in accordance with needs, to two integrated Randax® propulsion drives by means of the electronics and frequency converters. The system’s maximum output is the power obtained from the combination of the continuous generator power and the power supplied by the batteries. This construction provides the market’s most efficient propulsion, and operation is both nearly silent and environmental-friendly.

Fantan Catamaran Oy is an Inari-based company that designs environmentally friendly motor catamarans in accordance with customer needs.
More information: Mr. Mauri Rautiainen/ Fantan Catamaran Oy.
http://www.fantan.fi/index_en.html

Randax Oy is an electrical engineering company that utilizes new technology in its products and production methods in Oulu, Finland.
More information: Mr. Matti Rantapää/ Randax Oy,
 http://www.randax.fi