The increasing interest in environmental issues has led to a growing application of eco-friendly power sources, such as battery systems, in ships. Although battery systems can be composed of various types of batteries such as lithium-ion batteries, redox flow batteries, and supercapacitors, the Korea Register of Shipping currently regulates "ship battery systems" specifically limited to lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries operate by the movement of lithium ions between the cathode and anode through a chemical reaction, which results in electrochemical oxidation-reduction reactions that charge and discharge the battery.

Batteries are devices that can charge and discharge limited amounts of energy and have advantages such as high efficiency and high momentary response characteristics. Due to space and weight constraints on ships, they are primarily used as the main and auxiliary power sources for inland waterway ships that mainly operate short distances, passenger ships, car transport ships, marine operation support ships, dredgers, and so on.

When a battery system is applied as the main power source for a ship, it must be configured as a redundant system with at least two independent systems in two separate compartments to ensure stability as the ship's main power source.

• - Ship battery systems can experience abnormal conditions due to mechanical, electrical, and environmental factors. These abnormal conditions can cause an increase in the internal temperature of the battery, leading to thermal runaway, fire, and explosion. Therefore, it is important to apply safety devices that can maintain the temperature of the battery system through cooling and quickly detect and cut off power in case of abnormal battery conditions.

• - If a Korea Register's registered ship wants to install a battery system, it must obtain type approval in accordance with the “Guidance for Battery Systems on Board of ships”, "Guidance for Approval of Manufacturing Process and Type Approval, etc.” and Hazard analysis is also required.
• - For Korean-flagged vessels, they must comply with the "Electrically Propelled Ships Standard" issued by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the battery system must obtain approval as a shipborne article according to the standard.
• - However, for a Korean-flagged vessel registered with the Korea Register, the battery system must obtain both the type approval of the Korean Register and government approval for shipborne articles.

Korea Register of Shipping is conducting research in various fields such as next-generation batteries, battery life prediction, and fault diagnosis to apply battery systems more safely to ships. Through various research and development, it will provide solutions to customers to safely and efficiently apply battery systems.