By Courtesy of Pacific Gas and Electric Company
A historic ferry in the San Francisco Bay Area will soon be converted to electric power, entering service as soon as 2024. After coming to vehicles, electricity is making inroads into waterborne transport, with several electric ferry and river shuttle projects springing up around the world.
A historic ferry in the San Francisco Bay Area will soon be converted to electric power, entering service as soon as 2024. After coming to vehicles, electricity is making inroads into waterborne transport, with several electric ferry and river shuttle projects springing up around the world.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company has partnered with the Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry Company to bring electric power to one of its vessels, the Angel Island. With the help of Green Yachts, it will soon be equipped with a fully electric propulsion system, with the goal of being fully operational by 2024. Like a retrofit in the automotive world, this project involves modernizing an old vessel by upgrading it to electric power. In addition to this feat, PG&E will bolster electrical transmission to the ferry terminal and set up suitable infrastructure to allow the vessel to be quickly recharged.
The 18-meter-long Angel Island ferry usually carries up to 400 passengers in San Francisco Bay. Starting next year, it will be able to continue doing so, all without emitting CO2 into the air, becoming California's first zero-emission short-distance ferry.
While this particular case involves bringing electric power to an existing model, certain electric ferries are already in operation in Northern Europe. This is the case of Ellen, a 60-meter-long ferry that has been carrying up to 30 cars and 200 passengers between two Danish islands since 2019. Two years later, the Basto Electric made its debut in Norway, also causing a splash. This 140-meter long boat can carry 600 passengers and 200 cars. Today, other projects of this kind are being developed in Australia and South America.
The first fleets of electric waterborne shuttles are also beginning to appear. The Swedish electric boat manufacturer Candela hopes to launch its first fleet in Stockholm this year, promising faster travel than with traditional public transport and, above all, a much more ecological option. These are 12-meter long shuttles that can accommodate about 30 passengers.
In Switzerland, a company called Almatech is working on Zesst \-- a Zero Emission Speed Shuttle -- that's an ambitious hydrogen-powered shuttle project. The first tests on Lake Geneva are planned for this year.
