China’s first fully electric passenger vessel has entered operation in Xiamen Bay. Equipped with CATL’s marine battery system, the ship has a range of 100 kilometres and is designed for near-shore, low-emission operation in coastal tourism.
The Yujian 77 measures 49 metres in length and 14.5 metres in width, with a passenger capacity of 358 and a top speed of 20 kilometres per hour. It was co-developed by CATL and is powered by the company’s marine battery system. The ship has a total battery capacity of 3,918 kWh, enabling an operating range of 100 kilometres per charge.
The battery system is based on CATL’s Cell To Pack (CTP) technology and features an integrated Combined Charging System (CCS). The pack offers an energy density of 140 Wh/kg and includes No Propagation (NP) safety technology designed to prevent the spread of thermal runaway at the cell level.
The system has been certified by several classification societies, including Bureau Veritas (BV), American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and Det Norske Veritas (DNV). According to CATL, the system meets the IP68 protection rating and has passed 1,296 hours of salt spray testing.
The vessel is expected to reduce fuel use by approximately 250 tonnes and cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 400 tonnes annually. These figures correspond to the estimated carbon capture of more than 20,000 trees per year.
CATL remains the largest supplier of power batteries. In the first half of 2025, the battery maker held a 43.05 per cent market share in China, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA). There, CATL installed a total of 128 GWh in the past six months.
cnevpost.com, autonews.gasgoo.com
