Ferry connected to mains cable

All those jokes about "you'll need a really long lead" are behind the times, here is a ferry connected to land based power by a long (350 metre) lead:

 

I wonder what the voltage is. From the size of the cable, not much over 2.4 kV?

 

very nice, thanks for this

many more ferries should use this. Pulling on cables is also far more efficient than propellers.

 

A well filled, tiny niche.

 

Mention is made of existing cable guided ferries with conventional propeller? power in these types of Niche situations. So it's not a long "stretch" to use a mobile cable that is pulled by electric motors alternately from either end to make the crossings. Efficiency should be way better than any propeller driven craft, if such an electric powered cable system was used. I believe the principle has been used for a few hand powered car Ferries, I believe one was referenced somewhere in the forum archives.

Hand-powered ferry, Rio Grande - Stock Image - C023/1677 https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/636706/view/hand-powered-ferry-rio-grande

 

Even better than electric is the reaction ferry:
Reaction ferry - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_ferry

This could be applied anywhere with currents. I think with modern foil designs, it should be possible to achieve good speeds (several times the speed of the current) so work even in light currents. This would enable it to work in almost all tidal streams.

 

Only suitable if there's no other river traffic to speak of, unfortunately. Too much risk of accidents otherwise.

 

Interesting question. Higher voltage means the conductor diameter can be smaller, but the insulation thickness increases. Presumably there is an optimum voltage for minimum outside diameter. Physical strength of the cable and weight of the cable may also be factors in the system design.

 

What if the cable could rest on the floor similarly to the cable pulled version? Otherwise, a hybrid of the original cable-pulled version with dagger/lee boards that are angled to provide forward thrust from the current.

Also the consideration of the motor and controller used would probably be more important than the conductor size/insulation size tradeoff. I would imagine a wide range of voltages would be viable.

 

Given the efficiency of available solid state inverters matching the voltage of the cable to the control system probably is not a major consideration.