Yangtze River Three Gorges 1 recently completed its maiden voyage out of its home port in Yichang, central China’s Hubei Province. The 100 meter long, zero-emissions ship can haul up to 1,300 passengers at a time and is powered by batteries totaling 7,500 kWh, equivalent to over 100 EVs.

The ship was developed by China Yangtze Power, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corp, and Hubei Three Gorges Tourism Group to the tune of 150 million yuan ($23.66 million).

The manufacturers tout the electric cruise ship as the first to achieve “true zero emissions” as it is charged using clean hydropower generated by the Three Gorges Dam in its home port.

Not only will the size and passenger capacity be the highest, but also the battery capacity – roughly 7.5 MWh (an equivalent of 75-100 long-range electric cars). The LFP-type batteries (over 10,000 cells) will be supplied by CATL. The ship’s current range is about 100 km (62 miles) on a charge. Plenty of range for sightseeing up and down the river, but certainly not enough to compete with vacation cruise lines at this point. That being said, that 100 km range is equivalent to 530 metric tons of fuel, accounting for 1,660 less tons of toxic emissions each year.

According to electrek