Incat Tasmania Chooses Wärtsilä Solutions for the Pioneering Zero-Emissions, Lightweight Ro-Pax Ferry

Wärtsilä to Propel the World’s Largest Battery Electric Ship: Incat Tasmania’s Groundbreaking Ferry for Buquebús.

Incat Tasmania has partnered with technology group Wärtsilä to equip their latest ferry, commissioned by long-term South American client Buquebús, with an unprecedented battery electric propulsion system and waterjets. This groundbreaking vessel, boasting an impressive 130-meter overall length, will not only be the largest of its kind but also the world’s inaugural zero-emissions lightweight catamaran. The order for Wärtsilä’s cutting-edge technology was confirmed in July 2023.

The uniquely designed vessel will be fully battery powered, with e-motor driven Wärtsilä waterjets as the main propulsors. The battery modules and energy storage system package is four times larger than on any electric/hybrid ship currently operating.

The full Wärtsilä scope of supply includes Wärtsilä’s own energy management system, the power conversion systemDC shore charging system, the 40 MWh battery modules, the DC hub, the eight electric motors, eight Wärtsilä axial flow WXJ1100 waterjets, and the ProTouch propulsion control system. Delivery of the Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for the latter part of 2024, and the vessel will be delivered in 2025.

The vessel will operate between Argentina and Uruguay. It will carry 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles.

Read the whole Wärtsilä Corporation, Press release 24 August 2023

Picture is from the same Press release © Wärtsilä Corporation

UNIKIE Accelerates Android Automotive Development at Warp Speed

Unikie Solidifies Its Android Automotive Presence with New Development Units in Finland and Poland.
Unikie, a pioneer in Android operating system development for the telecom sector, is expanding its Android Automotive footprint with the launch of new development units in Kuopio, Finland, and Szczecin, Poland. Leveraging years of experience and a track record of successful projects within the automotive industry, this strategic investment reinforces Unikie’s commitment to advancing Android Automotive solutions.

Android Automotive is an operating system widely chosen by the world’s leading car manufacturers. Software for in-car infotainment systems is no longer always the car manufacturer’s own but can be based on an open-source operating system tailored to the needs of each brand. Android Automotive can be used to create Infotainment systems that provide a digital experience and integrate downloadable applications into car functions.

Unikie creates and sells technology and product development services for autonomously controlled devices, real-time process control and the development of networked and terminal devices that enable secure data transfer. There is a high demand for Unikie’s technology and know-how, as the ongoing global revolution around digitalization is forcing companies to take their operations to a new level using artificial intelligence and automation. Unikie has been working with cutting-edge companies for a long time, enabling it to leverage its experience and expertise in industries that are becoming increasingly aware of the business benefits of digitalization, and the challenges that may rise from not being able to offer their customers something new and efficient. Unikie’s competitive edge is the extensive know-how of the entire Android ecosystem.

Read the article on Unikie.com website
Image is from the same article on the Unikie website.

Unveiling the Potential of Micro-Sustainability in Public Transportation

The macro benefits of public transport are clear: getting cars off roads opens cities for people and reduces CO2 emissions. But that’s just the start. Public transport has a lot of unrealized potential when it comes to micro-sustainability. By focusing on the details in public transport operations and optimizing every aspect, incremental gains can be achieved. And small but continuous gains – on a large scale – can make a significant difference.

Digitalization is a key enabler of micro-sustainability. With real-time data from each vehicle, it is possible to optimize efficiency and minimize energy wastage, costs, and CO2 emissions.

Drivers are key

While electrification offers a bright future; managing the transition from fossil fuel vehicles requires balance. One of the areas that can make a substantial difference is eco-driving services that give drivers a real-time feedback loop about how the way they drive affects fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

EcoDriving targets “avoidable” fuel usage. By showing how acceleration, braking and idling patterns affect CO2 emissions – and showing how they could reduce them – drivers have been shown to reduce emissions by up to 12%.

Fixing vehicles before they break

Maintaining a healthy fleet means staying one step ahead of mechanical problems. With real-time data from the digital systems on a bus, it is possible to monitor its ‘health’ and identify potential mechanical issues before they turn into problems. This reduces overall vehicle downtime and service disruptions.

By monitoring and analysing the performance of vehicles, it is also possible to assess their operational efficiency and ensure they are operating cleanly and cost-effectively.
Even a simple error such as an incorrect thermostat temperature can increase the energy consumption by up to 10%.

The remarkable thing about digitalization – when it’s done right – is that it can keep evolving. By using open IoT platforms and common standards, new ways of unlocking efficiency can be achieved with solutions that don’t even exist yet. And that’s the beauty of micro-sustainability. Once public transport operators have the foundations in place, they can keep finding new ways to reduce costs and CO2 and compounding the benefits.

Read whole article on Telia’s website

Image is from the same article on the Telia website.

Revolutionizing Public EV Charging in Jersey: The Collaborative Endeavor of Virta and Jersey Elect

Virta entered into an agreement with Jersey Electricity (JE) at the end of 2022 with operations commencing at the beginning of 2023. The initiative entails a comprehensive modernization of Jersey’s public EV charging infrastructure.

Jersey’s public charging network, known as Evolve, is owned and provided by JE. The partnership with Virta enables JE to leverage ever-improving software and solution capabilities, and affords JE the opportunity to develop innovative solutions for customers.

The physical charging points are being upgraded as a part of the infrastructure investment. For EV drivers, this will mean a smoother and more convenient charging experience, as well as the opportunity to use a single application both in the Island as well as anywhere in the Virta European and UK-wide network. Across the Virta network, and with roaming agreements included, this will mean over 90,000 chargers across Europe.

Virta is providing a complete turnkey solution and supplying JE with charger management, electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), and a full scope of payment solutions covering the Island’s public EV charging network. Although the Island is only 9 by 5 miles in size with a population of just over 100,000, there are about 130,000 vehicles in Jersey. With the increasing adoption of EVs comes the demand for fast, reliable, and convenient charging, which were the main reasons JE chose Virta.

Read the article on Virta.global website
Image is from the same article on the Virta website.

Finland Unveils Groundbreaking Remote Monitoring Center for Tampere’s Driverless Shuttles, Pioneering the Future of Autonomous Transportation

Marking a significant advancement in autonomous transportation, Finland has reached a noteworthy milestone by inaugurating its inaugural remote monitoring center for self-driving shuttles in Tampere. Operated by REMOTED, the center aims to support safety drivers and facilitate the transition from vehicle-based control to remote supervision. With the pilot program already underway in Hervanta, where passengers have shown great satisfaction with the robotic buses, the ultimate goal is to achieve full autonomy and eliminate the need for onboard safety attendants. This endeavor stands as a momentous stride towards reshaping public transportation in Finland.

 

Transforming the commute experience for specific passenger groups

The introduction of driverless shuttles in Tampere has brought about a transformative commuting experience for specific passenger groups. Since January, these autonomous vehicles have been ferrying passengers from the tram terminus to Lintuhytti and operating in the Ahvenisjärvi area of Hervanta. Among the regular customers are pensioners who have found the service particularly beneficial, enjoying the convenience and reliability provided by the robotic buses.

Elevating both safety and efficiency via remote surveillance

To ensure a smooth transition to fully autonomous operation, each of the three autonomous buses currently operating in Hervanta is accompanied by a safety driver. The safety drivers play a vital role in guiding passengers and taking control of the vehicle in case of emergencies or malfunctions. However, REMOTED‘s remote monitoring center aims to gradually reduce reliance on safety drivers by enabling remote control capabilities. By remotely supervising the buses, one supervisor can monitor multiple vehicles, leading to cost savings and increased operational efficiency.

Evaluating the potential of remote control functionalities and seamless information integration

The ongoing testing phase also focuses on exploring the possibilities of remote control functions. Commands such as starting the vehicle, stopping it, and opening the doors can be issued remotely, further enhancing the autonomous capabilities of the robotic buses. Additionally, REMOTED plans to integrate open data, including weather and traffic information, into the monitoring process. Equipped with cameras, the buses provide real-time visual feedback to the remote supervisors, allowing them to detect and address potential issues swiftly.

Positive passenger feedback and future prospects

Despite the challenges, the driverless shuttles have garnered praise from passengers. Over 4,000 passengers in Hervanta and over 1000 in Lintuhytti have already experienced the convenience and reliability of this innovative mode of transportation. Pensioners rely on the service, and families with strollers have appreciated the buses’ accessibility. Integration with existing transportation systems has further increased passenger numbers, with the route guide now indicating seamless transfers between the autonomous buses and other modes of transport. As the day to day of the shuttle service determines the duration of testing before removing safety drivers, the expansion of autonomous shuttle projects and fleet size becomes crucial for a sustainable and driverless future.

Read article on EasyMile’s site
Photo by REMOTED

Data Analysis Reveals the Intricate Relationship Between Air Quality and Transport

Driving Sustainability: Transport for West Midlands Harnesses Environmental and Transport Data Integration to Bolster Local Transport Plan

Vaisala’s Data Empowers Sustainable Transport Schemes: Transport for West Midlands Utilizes Weather and Environmental Sensors, Partnered with VivaCity Traffic Monitoring Sensors, to Measure Carbon Emissions and Air Quality, Driving Climate-Friendly Transportation Initiatives.

The West Midlands is the second largest region in the United Kingdom, where nearly six million residents live and work. In this geographically diverse area, TfWM has embarked on a journey that will change the way residents and others see and use local transport.

The vision to reimagine how people get around the region will result in an fairer, safer and healthier West Midlands, reducing the impact on the environment and encouraging sustainable travel.

Collaboration and innovation

TfWM engaged VivaCity to deploy 300 traffic monitoring sensors and 62 Vaisala weather and air quality measurement stations. This combination gives TfWM detailed and accurate traffic information and weather data across a large network.

Benefits of combining weather, air quality and traffic datasets

Each Vaisala sensor measures the most important urban pollutant gases (NO, NO2, O3, CO) and particles (PM1, PM2.5, PM10,) and is equipped with a weather transmitter that measures six of the most important weather parameters: air pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and wind direction.

The weather and air quality insights help TfWM to understand not only current weather conditions across the region, but also the relationship between weather and traffic. Weather is one of the major causes of changes in traffic behaviour, and idle vehicles pollute much more than moving ones.

The weather and air quality insights, alongside traffic data, offer the potential for TfWM to optimise traffic signals and speed limits to help traffic move more smoothly, to reduce congestion and improve air quality.

About Vaisala

Vaisala is a global leader in weather, environmental, and industrial measurements. Building on 85 years of experience, Vaisala provides observations for a better world, with space-proof technology even exploring Mars and beyond. They are a reliable partner for customers around the world, offering a comprehensive range of innovative observation and measurement products and services. Headquartered in Finland, Vaisala employs over 2,000 professionals worldwide and is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.

Read article on VivaCityLab.com site
Photo by Luke Matthews on Unsplash

PayiQ is building on a Firm Foundation

Pay have now established our ticketing services all over Finland and can count over 500,000 users. This means that we have now reached technical maturity, found market fit, and have the financial foundation to start taking the next steps.

An important focus area is City Acc, and all its possible applications. City Acc is a revolutionary ecosystem we are developing to transform the way we access and track transport. But that’s not all. With City Acc, we are also providing a fun and engaging way to measure and reduce CO2 emissions for individuals, organizations, and regions alike.

During Q1, we secured financing for the City Acc initiative MVP, and our first app with game-changing capabilities will be available in the app stores when this article is posted. By teaming up with award-winning German mobility analytics technology we can add to our service an AI-driven CO2 footprint calculator that can track up to 20 different modes of transport. With this feature, both individuals and cities can gain valuable insights into real-life mobility choices and how they affect the carbon footprint.

The business model of City Acc ecosystem is manifold and needs to be explored. Right now, we are focusing on the one hand on the individual experience involving local services and stores, and on the other hand on the corporate, municipal, and regional levels.

For the individual, every time they make a sustainable travel choice and save 5kg CO2, they earn Climate Coins. Coins can then be exchanged for vouchers from our partners. Building and managing an ecosystem of partners will be a priority in the coming months. Once that ecosystem is up, we can bring a variety of new services and opportunities to our users. One fun feature is that this partner network can be international. CO2 calculation and usage spans European wide.

The other immediate field of opportunity is turning sustainability into a competition between organizations, cities, and regions. Driving down emissions caused by traffic is one of the hardest climate-related challenges we have, and here we have a fun way to engage more people to think and act for the good of the planet! Through the data provided by the app, it is easy to see who is making the most progress. We have already received a very positive, at times excited reaction from companies and municipalities. We hope to see some companies and maybe even municipalities in friendly competition against each other in lowering their CO2 footprint already this year.

Read the whole blog article on PayIQ’s home page by By Pirkka Lankinen, CEO of PayiQ
Image is also from the same blog on the PayIQ website.

 

 

 

Business Finland aims to make Finland a globally recognized provider of sustainable, carbon-neutral solutions for cities

The Decarbonized Cities Program launched by Business Finland on April 18, 2023 aims to make Finland a globally recognized provider of sustainable, carbon-neutral solutions for cities. The program helps Finnish companies and organizations to find international cooperation and business partners. New exports are estimated to amount to several billion euros.

Smart solutions and sustainability principles drive global urban development

Urban development has a significant impact on climate change: cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and account for more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. In the near future, more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. The largest challenges in urban environments are related to the built environment, energy, and traffic. From the point of view of the cities of the future, the utilization of digitalization and data as well as new business models have great potential.

Most major cities in Europe and in many other OECD countries have set a challenging goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 or 2035. The EU has selected 100 cities to implement the EU’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities mission. Six of these are located in Finland: Espoo, Helsinki, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, and Turku. The goal of the mission is to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 through developing smart and sustainable solutions.

Decarbonized Cities Program In a Nutshell

  • The aim is to help Finnish companies and other stakeholders to create new business and networks by solving urban carbon-neutrality issues.
  • The program will increase and strengthen the multisectoral supply and expertise that cities need to manage their CO2 emissions and energy transition today and tomorrow.
  • Long-term relationships with foreign cities are established in terms of both innovation and business.
  • New Finnish exports will amount to EUR 3 billion.
  • The program will involve close collaboration with selected domestic and foreign cities, large and small companies, researchers, and other stakeholders.
  • The program will focus on comprehensive solutions instead of partial solutions.
  • EUR 150 million will be allocated to the development and modification of solutions.
  • The program will run until 2028.

Read more on The program’s website

The picture is from the program’s website on the subject

Virta closes €85M growth funding to increase EVs’ charging platforms impact on accelerate growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific

Finland-based Virta Ltd, a global leader in the fast-growing Electric Vehicle charging platforms industry(1), has secured new €85M growth funding. The funding round has been among the biggest in the sector in recent years.

The sum consists of €65M equity investment from Virta’s existing investors, led by the private equity firm Jolt Capital, and co-invested by Future Energy Ventures backed by E.ON., Helen Ventures, Vertex Growth Fund, Finnish Industry Investment, Lahti Energy, Vantaa Energy, and Kotka Energy. Twenty million euros will be received from Business Finland, which offers innovation funding for companies and research organizations.

Over 1 000 professional EV charging businesses in 35 countries run their EV charging services on the Virta platform. Together, these charging network operators constitute one of the biggest public networks in Europe. Including roaming, the network enables EV drivers with access to over 350 000 charging points.

Virta and EV charging industry are heading to the era of green hypergrowth

Virta’s growth has continuously surpassed the industry average, and in 2022, Virta Group’s annual revenue grew 112% to €39M (preliminary figures). As a result, Virta was ranked on the Financial Times 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies list for the fourth time in a row in 2023. With the fresh funding, Virta aims to grow its charging transactions by more than fivefold in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region by 2025.
(1) Estimated number of charging points in Europe in 2025 compared to 2021 +475% from 0,4 million to 2,3 million and 7,9 million in 2030. Sources: ACEA, ICCT, IEA, BNEF, DNV 2030 estimates.

Read full news story on Virta.global site

The picture is from the Virta website news on the subject

A Unique Living Lab Environment In Tampere For Urban Transport

Business Finland is funding Tampereen Raitiotie Oy’s Lyyli Living Lab development environment through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funding program, which is part of the Sustainable Growth Program for Finland. Lyyli Living Lab is an inclusive RDI environment for the development, validation, and the acquisition of market references of sustainable, rail-based, smart urban transport technologies and services.

Lyyli Living Lab is a real-life development and test environment for urban transport products and services. At its core, it is a tram car equipped with exceptional measurement devices, IT connections, and a data management and analytics system.

LYYLI LIVING LAB
  • Operations started in Tampere in early 2022.
  • Lyyli Living Lab is an open piloting, development, and validation environment that invites Finnish and international operators to join its partner company network and to use its services by submitting an application to Tampereen Raitiotie Oy and agreeing on a partnership fee corresponding to their chosen participation period.
  • The operations of the Lyyli Living Lab development environment are steered by the TURMS innovation cluster, which is financed through partnership fees and Business Finland’s funding that will continue to the end of 2025.
  • The steering group of the innovation cluster includes Tampereen Raitiotie Oy, Skoda Transtech, Business Finland, Business Tampere, City of Tampere, VTT, and the University of Tampere.
  • Business Finland has granted EUR 366,000 to the rail transport laboratory. In addition, Business Finland has granted funding to the SmartRail ecosystem.

RRF FUNDING IN A KEY ROLE

Lyyli Living Lab is designed to meet the needs of companies as well as public, research, and other organizations that develop transport and mobility technologies and services. These companies and organizations are partners in the TURMS innovation cluster and use the RDI environment.

TOWARDS INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Business Finland’s cooperation with Tampereen Raitiotie demonstrates that it is able to fund activities that differ from conventional research and development activities also through innovation clusters, for example. The potential for similar arrangements may also exist elsewhere.

The main goal of Business Finland is to make the group of organizations participating in the ecosystem more international.

RRF – 5G/6G, AI, Quantum – development environments and microelectronics

For 2023, Business Finland will open a new funding call for projects aimed at building or developing test, pilot, research, and innovation infrastructures that promote the development of 6G, AI, and quantum computing and advancing microelectronics.

For more information, please contact us or leave a message in the online customer service with the identifier RRF – 5G/6G, AI, Quantum – development environments and microelectronics.

The Sustainable Growth Program for Finland related to the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) aims to accelerate the development of competitiveness, investments, increased competence levels, and research, development, and innovation. It specifically focuses on promoting the green transition and the digital change.

Olavi Keränen
Business Finland
olavi.keranen (at) businessfinland.fi

 

Read the full article on Business Finland site

The picture is from the Business Finland website article on the subject