General Electric has taken the first steps in developing a hybrid drivetrain for a tugboat. Working with C-MAR, a Texas-based maritime engineering firm, GE hopes to send the new tugboat to sea within two years. CE is handling the engine production, along with the electric motor and batteries. C-MAR will design the actual tugboat, as well as integrate the components together.

The 4,000 tugboats currently serving American ports may just be the perfect candidates for hybrid power. If GE’s numbers are right, such a hybrid vehicle would burn 35 percent less fuel and produce 80 percent less pollution than current tugboats. And the type of work tugboats do is surprisingly similar to the sort of rush hour traffic that is the ideal environment of the hybrid automobile: tugs idle for long periods of time, waiting to crank up the power for the short amount of time it takes to get freighters and tankers to the places they need to be.

GE seems to see tugboats as just the start. After all, shipping puts twice as much CO2 into the air as aviation. There’s a pretty big market for greener shipping.

Photo — Slack12