First product from new Fortescue Detroit factory: marine batteries [Quick Charge]

Earlier today, global mining giant Fortescue announced plans to begin operations at its new Detroit factory with the production of HV marine batteries that will be used initially by EVOA to power a range of luxury marine vessels, wake boats, and tenders — and they’ve come to Quick Charge to tell us all about it!

The Fortescue Zero division of the mining giant is opening its first North American Advanced Manufacturing Center in Detroit, next year — and we now know that its first product will be an advanced, high voltage marine battery built around the company’s Scalable Battery Module (SBM) technology.

“The Marine Battery Packs we have designed and will manufacture for EVOA in Detroit is
just the beginning of what is possible with the technology we have created,” says Fortescue Energy CEO, Mark Hutchinson. “Our Scalable Battery Module product is flexible and adaptable for a range of products and markets. We’ve pushed innovation and engineering to the limit everywhere from racetracks to mine sites and now our customers get to see the benefits of our real-world experience and get a neat solution for their battery needs that helps minimize investment and risk in their design and development program.”

Fortescue describes the Marine Battery Pack being produced for EVOA as lightweight, high-performance products delivering 30kWh to 34kWh per pack, and as engineered to support EVOA’s most powerful, 1,000+ hp powertrains. The company insists that fast-charging capabilities will be baked into the new batteries, with practical charge times projected at under 30 minutes to minimize
downtime attributed to charging.

That charge time is conservative

Claiming a 30 min. DCFC top-off time would have raised eyebrows just a few weeks ago — but last week’s announcement that Fortescue was driving the technology behind massive, all electric heavy equipment solutions (like the Liebherr T264E rigid haul truck, above) with an all-new, mind-bendingly quick 6 MW DC fast charger that could charge this massive haul truck’s 1,900 kWh battery in less than thirty minutes has changed all that.

The game has simply changed, and there are already waterfront megawatt charging projects in play to support the notion that electric boats simply won’t get stuck charging for extended periods of time.

Fortescue’s Marine Battery Pack solution can be configured as a multi-pack Power System, giving the flexibility to support small and larger vessels.

We were lucky enough to have Fortescue’s Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Carlisle join us on today’s episode of Quick Charge to discuss Fortescue Zero, the company’s major moves towards carbon neutrality, and more. Enjoy!

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