SHIFTR revolutionises fast ferries with autonomous battery swap

From New York City to Norway, people in coastal areas rely on fast ferries to transport them to work and home again. These ferries must be fast, efficient and punctual; otherwise they will lose riders. This creates a challenge for the green transition. A zero-emission alternative is needed to replace today’s powerful fossil-fuel engines – without compromising on speed or terminal time.

The challenge is to make clean battery technology work for fast ferries. Electric ferries must still be fast enough to maintain high-quality service,.

SHIFTR enables electrification of fast ferries with autonomous battery swap technology. The system consists of a manipulator, elevator, scalable shuffler and scalable battery house on the quay (or a floating terminal), and a scalable carousel for one to four batteries on the boat deck.

A robot quickly exchanges the ferry’s empty battery with a fully charged one, keeping electric fast ferries operating at top speed all day long and eliminating downtime in connection with quayside charging.

With SHIFTR, fast ferries can maintain the same speed and keep the same timetable. With frequent swaps, battery weight and energy consumption are reduced, and existing diesel ferries can be retrofitted, avoiding the need for newbuilds.

While the company encourages conversions, the newbuild market is equally interesting. Its solution provides unlimited range on 100 per cent electric power, which ensures uninterrupted operation,. Moreover, conversion to electric is simplified with DNV-approved standalone battery containers, eliminating the need to construct costly battery rooms.

SHIFTR offers a plethora of environmental benefits. As Adolfsson points out, “SHIFTR will accelerate the green transition for fast ferries.” There are many reasons for this.

SHIFTR’s simple conversion process takes half the time of a newbuild, allowing express ferries to achieve zero-emission operation twice as quickly.

In addition, the solution keeps battery weight on the vessel to a minimum, reducing energy consumption. Lower charging power requirements reduce the demand for expensive grid upgrades.

In a retrofit project for Oslofjord ferries, SHIFTR will reduce diesel consumption by 1 million litres per year and CO₂ by 3 000 metric tons per year, while a newbuild project in Trøndelag will reduce diesel consumption by 5.6 million litres and CO₂ by 15 000 metric tons per year.

The global electric ship market, which includes express ferries, is projected to reach USD 12.78 billion by 2030. This huge expected growth is driven in part by the IMO emissions reduction targets and pressure from national and municipal authorities to decarbonise maritime transport.

A spin-off of the ferry operator Norled, SHIFTR is the world’s first battery swapping robot to commence operation. In 2026 it was installed at the quay on Nesodden to power express boats between Nesodden and Oslo. Testing of the battery swapping robot in actual operation on the express boat between Nesoddtangen and Lysaker is also scheduled for 2026.