Electric Ferry

Anna knows the captain. The captain lady introduces more advantages of electric boats to Anna and Sophie. You don’t have any STACK WITH THE EXHAUST. It’s cleaner and quieter so you can have a more enjoyable time. Electric ferry means they run on batteries and have a diesel motor as a backup. So the batteries power an electric motor that turns the propeller and that is how we propel the boat. Electric motors have been in submarines since 1890. Yet maritime transport still emits over 900 million tons of CO2 annually. It is responsible for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Anna’s island has started the electrification with all the small ferries that had to be replaced in a short term. So in the other words, they decided that if they need new ferries, they would have to be 100% electric. Their design had to be the same as the diesel ones, so they would fit in the existing bow and stern doors. Now it is all compatible and the transition happens overnight (testing happens at night so the day time-table remains uninterrupted). Now that we have gotten used to it, it seems simple and logical. We can see everything on one screen. You don’t need to go to the engine room and check things. You keep an eye on the battery level, but you also get notifications if it’s approaching the minimum.  Charging is easy and fast, it takes about 7 minutes.

And then Sophie asks what would the old sea captain say about electric ferries.
“He would say… What took so long?"