Founded in August 2019,[1] the e5 Project originally consisted of Asahi Tanker Co. Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K.

[2] After founding, Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd., Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., and Tokyo Electric Power Company joined the partnership.

In the first trial, planned for January through May 2020, ships would "be equipped with flat antennas and local wireless stations", before a longer trial between January 2021 and March 2022 in which SoftBank and OneWeb will test a new satellite communication system designed to develop autonomous or remotely-controlled ships.

[3][12] By October 2019, e5 Lab had designed a tugboat that would run on a mixture of electricity and hydrogen fuel cells, produced with the advice of Tokyo Kisen.

[10] The proposed car carrier, to be developed with the assistance of Mitsui O.S.K.,[14] would be powered by a mixture of liquefied natural gas and hydrogen cell generated electricity.