Unique 'Solar Ship' Packed With Toyota Priuses Cruises Into the Port of Long Beach
Hundreds of solar panels contribute up to 40 kilowatts directly into the Auriga Leader's electrical system
.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The Auriga Leader, the first pure car carrier partly powered by solar energy, called on the Port of Long Beach Wednesday to unload a cargo consisting chiefly of Toyota Priuses (pictured right).
Rising more than seven stories out of blue-green water, the ship sported 328 solar panels affixed to the top deck to offset diesel fuel consumption and reduce air pollution.
The 656-foot, 60,000-ton vessel can carry more than 6,200 cars at a time and regularly does so, transporting Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles from Toyota Motor Co. factories in Japan to this port 24 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, under a clear blue Southern California sky, Captain Eugen State (pictured
) told Green Car Advisor
that on this trip some 60 percent of the vehicles aboard his ship were third-generation Priuses - a fact he said with pride.
While Toyota on Wednesday reported a 32 percent plunge in June-over-May sales overall, demand for the spunky hybrid actually rose 10 percent for the same period and its second-quarter sales outperformed first-quarter figures by more than 51,000 vehicles.
But enough about the car. On this day the news at Toyota's 144-acre spread at the Port of Long Beach was the seaworthy car-mover, not the cargo. Pure car carriers are notorious for fouling air while docked, and the world's biggest automaker was doing something about it.
In the seven months since the Auriga Leader was fitted with solar panels, the first vessel in its class to utilize solar technology to add electricity to its grid - as opposed meeting a particular need, such as powering a ship's low-watt lighting - curbed its thirst for diesel by an estimated six tons, State told us.
State emphasized that the panels constituted an experiment to see if such a system would work effectively aboard a car carrier. So far, so good, State said, adding that not a single problem had arisen since the panels were installed last December.
"She may be the first of her kind," he said, "for sure, she will not be the last."
Already, State said, electrical engineers at Toyota's headquarters in Japan have found solar cells that are three times more efficient than the cells used in the solar arrays atop his ship.
Below deck, Auriga Leader's
chief electrical engineer, gushed with excitement as the Romanian national discussed the next generation of solar panels.
Standing beside the ship's Power Conditioner Receiving Panel and sporting bright orange duds, Taciuc Dorin (pictured) said the ship could have been equipped with enough solar cells to generate 500 kilowatts of power - or roughly 25 percent of the ship's needs during peak demand.
Already, he said, the test had proven successful. In the seven months since the Auriga Leader got her solar arrays, there's not been one "surprise," he said, such as a break in the circuit because water had leaked into the system.
That would have been easy enough, he said, given the amount of wiring involved and the ship's proximity to water, loads of water. But it hasn't happened.
Back in Japan, Captain State said, the bean-counters aren't particularly interested in whether or not solar systems such as the Auriga Leader's
pay for themselves. Sure, the solar panels and accompanying equipment on his ship cost $1.8 million, but that's not the chief concern of Toyota, he said.
The company that makes the world's most-popular hybrid is genuinely concerned about its carbon footprint, State said. It is why, he said, we can expect to see or hear reports of another pure car carrier going solar in the not-to-distant future.
With automakers absorbing waves of financial body blows these days, we hope that Toyota (and other automakers) don't back off on their commitment to become more environmentally friendly.
At least as far as Toyota goes, we're not seeing any retreat from going greener - in the vehicles it produces or the vessels that take their cars and trucks to distant markets.
Not yet, anyway.
- Posted by
- Scott Doggett July 2, 2009, 1:16 AM
- Permalink
- Categories:
- China, Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Solar, Tesla
- Technorati Tags:
- Air Pollution, Auriga Leader, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Toyota Motor Co., Toyota Prius
What's the total energy difference for, say, Camrys made in America?