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| Meta Title | Voltic: Electric cargo ships | Y Combinator |
| Meta Description | Electric cargo ships. Founded in 2022 by Prosser Cathey, Voltic has 5 employees based in . Voltic is hiring for 2 roles in engineering and sales. |
| Meta Canonical | null |
| Boilerpipe Text | tl;dr - We’re building electric cargo ships that are zero-emission and 3x more profitable than existing ships. Hey everyone! This is Prosser from Voltic . We’re creating electric cargo ships that are greener and cheaper than current options. 🚢 THE PROBLEM Shipping is a massive industry that contributes 2.2% of the world’s CO2 emissions, 15% of the world’s NOx emissions and 13% of the world’s SOx emissions ( Source ). In other words, approximately 816,640,000,000 kg (.8 gigatons) of carbon dioxide is emitted by ships every year ( Source ). There is currently no generally accepted path to full sustainability for the industry. At the same time, fuel is an enormous operating cost for ships. Ranging from 50% at shipping’s most efficient to 75% on fast or heavy routes when fuel prices are high, cargo prices are highly dependent on fuel prices ( Source ). This means our ships will not only be great for the environment but also sustainably cheaper than current alternatives. ⚡ OUR SOLUTION Supported by grants from the Department of Energy, we designed a solar and battery tech stack that can completely power a container ship at standard operating speeds. Unlike most hardware startups working on difficult engineering problems, we do not have a multi-year, multi-round path to profitability. We already have our first customer, and expect our first ship to be operational in the near future. This will be the first step towards building out a fleet of zero-emission vessels. Long term, we want to fully power the shipping industry via electricity, operating a fleet that can serve any route in the world. 🚢 🚢 🚢 Email contact@volticshipping.com for inquiries or contacts. And give our LinkedIn page a follow :) |
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[Home](https://www.ycombinator.com/home)›[Companies](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies)›Voltic

# Voltic
Electric cargo ships
[Summer 2022](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Summer%202022)
Active
***
[Company](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic)
[Jobs](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic/jobs)2
[https://volticshipping.com/](https://volticshipping.com/)
***
### Electric cargo ships
We are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry by replacing fuel with solar panels. Solar-powered cargo ships have the potential to eliminate 2.2% of global CO2 production, while simultaneously cutting shipping costs by 50-75% depending on route. We are making a boat that is both greener and cheaper.
Active Founders

Prosser Cathey
### Prosser Cathey, Founder
Prosser is the founder and CEO of Voltic. He is excited to make the shipping industry greener and more efficient. Prosser grew up in Ligonier, PA, where he was the oldest of five siblings. He graduated from MIT in three years with multiple majors, winning a Fulbright upon graduation to study the auto industry's transition to EVs. He also rowed for MIT's D1 Heavyweight Crew team, with whom he won a Gold Medal at Head of the Charles. In his free time, he enjoys pizza, movies and skiing.
Jobs at Voltic
[View all jobs](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic/jobs)
[Ocean Engineer](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic/jobs/JVs4fX5-ocean-engineer)
Boston, MA, US / Remote (US)
\$50K - \$200K
7\.00%
6+ years
[Apply Now ›](https://account.ycombinator.com/authenticate?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.workatastartup.com%2Fapplication%3Fsignup_job_id%3D68430&defaults%5BsignUpActive%5D=true&defaults%5Bwaas_company%5D=26763)
[Business Development](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic/jobs/tcUe5SI-business-development)
Boston, MA, US / New York, NY, US / San Francisco, CA, US / Remote (US)
\$75K - \$150K
6+ years
[Apply Now ›](https://account.ycombinator.com/authenticate?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.workatastartup.com%2Fapplication%3Fsignup_job_id%3D72040&defaults%5BsignUpActive%5D=true&defaults%5Bwaas_company%5D=26763)
[](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic)
[Voltic](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/voltic)
Founded:2022
Batch:Summer 2022
Team Size:5
Status:
Active
Primary Partner:[Harj Taggar](https://www.ycombinator.com/people/harj-taggar)
Company Launches
Voltic: electric cargo ships
[See original launch post](https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/J9U-voltic-electric-cargo-ships)
**tl;dr** - We’re building electric cargo ships that are **zero-emission** and **3x more profitable** than existing ships.

Hey everyone! This is Prosser from [Voltic](https://volticshipping.com/). We’re creating electric cargo ships that are greener and cheaper than current options.
### 🚢 **THE PROBLEM**
Shipping is a massive industry that contributes **2\.2%** of the world’s CO2 emissions, 15% of the world’s NOx emissions and 13% of the world’s SOx emissions ([Source](https://clearseas.org/en/air-pollution/)). In other words, approximately 816,640,000,000 kg (.8 gigatons) of carbon dioxide is emitted by ships every year ([Source](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions)). There is currently no generally accepted path to full sustainability for the industry.
At the same time, fuel is an enormous operating cost for ships. Ranging from **50%** at shipping’s most efficient to **75%** on fast or heavy routes when fuel prices are high, cargo prices are highly dependent on fuel prices ([Source](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361920920306817)). This means our ships will not only be great for the environment but also sustainably cheaper than current alternatives.
### **⚡ OUR SOLUTION**
Supported by grants from the Department of Energy, we designed a solar and battery tech stack that can completely power a container ship at standard operating speeds. Unlike most hardware startups working on difficult engineering problems, we do not have a multi-year, multi-round path to profitability. We already have our first customer, and expect our first ship to be operational in the near future. This will be the first step towards building out a fleet of zero-emission vessels. Long term, we want to fully power the shipping industry via electricity, operating a fleet that can serve any route in the world. 🚢 🚢 🚢
Email [contact@volticshipping.com](mailto:founders@volticshipping.com) for inquiries or contacts.
And give our [LinkedIn page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/voltic-shipping/) a follow :)
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