WLPGA Member Focus – Alystech
Alystech is a French company founded at the end of 2016 by three partners, one of whom is a computer scientist, who already had a naval architecture design office and was the first to design an aluminum multihull called "Ice Cat" intended to face the ice during polar explorations. Ice Cat will be operational in the fall of 2018 and has a hybrid propulsion. In addition to naval architecture, Alystech develops an activity of integrator dedicated for electric propulsion systems with real-time digital control thanks to a software developed internally. This software is intended to be sold separately on the market.
The first year for the company was dedicated to R & D, focusing for example on the conception of a software that digitises in 3D all the parts of a boat or a barge made of steel or aluminum. This software can considerably reduce labour costs. An innovative carbon pod (outboard) equipped with a neodymium magnet brushless motor is under construction and Alystech also innovates by separating the electric production part from the electric propulsion thanks to a platform of motorisation allowing to integrate LPG in perfect conditions of safety on board.
Current Projects
Today Alystech is working on a project called OdysSeine: the sustainable mobility’s inland waterways Odyssee: the alternative fuel LPG goes in Seine!
The OdysSeine project consists of the construction and navigation of an 18 m boat with a hybrid electric/LPG engine that will sail on the Seine, and specifically within Paris. This project is part of the sustainable mobility’s policy implemented by the City of Paris, and in fact of any metropolis that must reduce the impact of urban mobility for public health reasons.
This boat will serve as a demonstration model that will integrate LPG in a global approach of innovation (digital design of the hull, hybrid chain, automation software, steering wheel with a tactile tablet). The boat will be situated next to the City of Sciences & Industry in the heart of the Parc de la Villette which welcomes more than two million visitors per year where an extended visit could be implemented with this demonstrator and thus promote LPG. The boat will at first be registered as a recreational boat because LPG is not yet allowed as fuel for freight transportation (including passengers). The boat is designed to welcome on board at least 50 people as passengers, although this is subject to a further regulation. Thus, in parallel, a request for a derogation will be requested from the Ministry of Transport.
OdysSeine – The Rationale
The primary motivation of this project, beyond the innovation in the maritime and fluvial field, is based on the wish to evolve the European regulation of non-road transport (passengers and goods) in favor of the authorisation of alternative fuels like LPG. Indeed, regulation applicable from 2019 requires the integration of exhaust after treatment systems such as filters and catalytic converters to reduce polluting emissions of diesels engine (Nox, Sox, CO, CO2, particles). These are very expensive and have a relatively short life.
Some technologies such as the measurement of the number of particles for example, are not yet on the market. However, the benefits of LPG – it does not emit fine particles, very little SOx and reduces the emission of NOX and CO2, well below the levels established by European regulations – come into the fore here. LPG is an affordable, economical, reliable and rapidly operational solution to fit with European regulations. This boat is a valuable support tool for communicating with French and European policy makers and the central administration. Finally, this project allows a working cooperation between suppliers of technologies and innovations around LPG on a European and international basis.
Also, at less than 300 K€, this is a reasonable project in terms of financial commitments, and promotes LPG as fuel in an original way with the aim to explore new markets for suppliers who integrate LPG in their technologies.
Alystech welcomes fellow WLPGA members’ involvement in the project.
Alystech’s wish is that the regulations will change quickly. By integrating LPG into the community, they hope to move forward collectively faster. For the 2024 Olympics in Paris, they hope to see passenger transportation through an electric mobility generated by LPG!
Welcome aboard OdysSeine !
