Tegernsee gets first electric passenger ship as old vessel becomes sauna

The Tegernsee’s first electric passenger ship has been officially christened and is expected to carry its first passengers within days, BR reported. The new EMS Gmund will replace an older passenger vessel, which is being converted into a sauna ship.

The champagne bottle was smashed against the hull during the ceremony. The ship was blessed by a Catholic priest, a Protestant pastor and a rabbi, while Charlotte Knobloch served as its godmother.

The EMS Gmund is about 25 metres long and can carry 180 passengers. It is expected to operate almost silently on the lake’s southern route, where eight landing stages must be served within an hour.

Several captains have already been trained on the vessel. Captain Florian Fischbacher said it accelerates and brakes more smoothly than the old ship and has more precise controls. The vessel is operated with a joystick instead of a large steering wheel. Captain Reinhard Maier said the wheelhouse was more spacious and easier to oversee than that of the old Gmund.

The new ship weighs 66 tonnes and contains two battery blocks with 16 batteries in total. Their combined capacity is 1,150 kilowatt-hours, equivalent to around 70,000 mobile phone batteries. The capacity is needed because the vessel must repeatedly brake and accelerate on its route. The ships are also heated during cold weather, said operations manager Stephan Herbst.

An electric motor with the equivalent of about 300 horsepower provides enough power for bad weather and waves. Michael Grießer of Bayerische Seenschifffahrt said all of the approximately 20 boats on Lake Königssee combined have less power than the new motor.

The ship can be charged at its berth in the shipyard. Solar panels have already been installed on the roof of the facility, and additional panels on the EMS Gmund’s deck provide shade. Bayerische Seenschifffahrt said the technology had developed further since the fully electric MS Berg began operating on Lake Starnberg in 2021. A second electric ship for the Tegernsee has already been ordered.

The new vessel cost 4.2 million euros. The old MS Gmund, built in 1968, will soon make its final scheduled route on the Tegernsee before being retired. The Tegernsee spa Monte Mare has acquired it and plans to convert it into a sauna ship. The conversion is expected to take several months, with the first sauna sessions planned for winter.

The current sauna ship, the Irmingard, is 101 years old and has become somewhat leaky. After 18 years as a sauna ship, it will move to Bad Wiessee on the other side of the lake for a symbolic payment of one euro. The municipality has not yet disclosed its plans for the vessel.