On January 27th, the Nichioh Maru began it’s maiden voyage. The maker of the first all electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf, Nissan wanted to continue it’s commitment to becoming a more green-minded company. The Nichioh Maru uses various energy-saving concepts to deliver a 13% improvement in CO2 emissions over other similarily sized ships.

Nissan has made a commitment to decrease CO2 emissions as part of a key pillar of the Nissan Green Program 2016.

The ship uses an energy-saving, electronically controlled diesel engine. The deck of the ship is outfitted with 281 solar panels that power LED lights in the ship’s hold and crew quarters. The ship also has a low-friction coating on it’s hull to help improve it’s sea mileage.

The Nishioh Maru can hold up to 1,380 cars, and will join 2 other ships on an 1800km domestic round trip in Japan. The ship will make about 2 trips per week, and each trip will use roughly 13 tons less fuel.

Total fuel savings for a year of service is expected to be around 1400 tons, as well as an annual reduction of 4,200 tons of CO2 emissions.

Overview of the Nichioh Maru
Length: 169.95 m
Width: 26.00 m
Total weight: 11,400 tons
Load capacity: Completed vehicles: 1,380 units
Operating speed: 21.2 knots