The ferry, its authors say, does not use any fuel or even an electric engine and relies solely on the river stream.
“We wanted to come up with a different model that would not cut off the river or interfered with navigation. We developed the idea in consultation with at least four engineers who are expert at navigation physics and ship building. The ferry draws energy solely from the river stream and does not use any fuel or even an electric engine,” says Justinas Dūdėnas, one of the authors of the idea.
The ferry is called Uperis, a play on the popular ride-sharing service Uber and the Lithuanian word for river, “upė”.
The idea was developed by four like-minded friends: Dūdėnas, who is an architect, Paulius Zaviša, Vilnius Academy of Art lecturer Šarūnas Šlektavičius and engineer Donatas Stasiulis.
They say they got the idea for the engineless ferry after seeing and old engraving in archive documents depicting a ferry in Valakampiai, an area by the Neris River in Vilnius.
Uperis, which has been three years in the making, will be sailing between Verkių Park and the beaches of Valakampiai.
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