Propelling a Future of Clean Transportation: Parker Helping to Make Waves in the Marine Market

When you look out over the fjord in Lavik, Norway on a clear day, you can see the future. That is, the clean, sustainable, energy-efficient future of the ferry business that Parker Hannifin is helping to make possible.

Norwegian ferry the MV Ampere is the world's first all-electric car and passenger ferry, powered by two 450 kW electric motors with 10t lithium-ion batteries.

When one of the leading players in electrification needed an energy efficient cooling circuit for the ferry's racks of batteries, they reached out to Parker's High Pressure Connectors Europe (HPCE) Division in Annemasse, France. Their request was for an innovative solution that would be easy to install and test while offering low maintenance, leak-free and energy efficient performance.

"We proposed a solution with couplings that would not allow any fluid to leak out," explains Liana Jaskot, Product Unit Manager for High Pressure Connectors Europe. "We eliminated the tubing and the fittings so it's just couplings, manifold and the connection is done."

Working directly with the partner's engineering experts, the Parker team developed a proprietary ready-to-use solution that reduced the overall number of components by almost 80%, reduced assembly time for the customer by approximately 90% and completely eliminated the risk of mixing connections and the need for testing.

"The development went very quickly because we work closely with the customer almost every day and were able to propose this solution in one week," adds Jaskot.

Parker went from design to manufacture to implementation of the thermal management manifold connector in only six months. During just one year of operation, an electric ferry like the Ampere saves approximately one million liters of diesel fuel, 2,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 35 metric tons of nitrogen oxide emissions.

It's not hard to imagine the far-reaching implications of numbers like these. And so, this revolutionary vessel not only represents an early success in electrification and a huge opportunity in the fast growing thermal management market. It's a beacon of purpose—and what can happen when Parker partners with customers to apply its core technologies to make a positive impact on the world.