Does Secretary Mayor Pete Dream Of Electric Ships?

Pete's in Washington state to tout the administration's Sound investments in clean transport.

Mayor Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited the Seattle area Thursday and today to talk up clean energy and the Biden administration's infrastructure programs, all part of 2021's $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of the trip, Buttigieg temporarily stoled the White House's social media accounts and talked about how federal funding will help Washington electrify its ferry fleet. 

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Washington State Ferries (WSF), part of the state Department of Transportation, operates the largest fleet of ferries in the USA, and currently, the ships are virtually all powered by dirty dirty carbony diesel, to the tune of 19 million gallons of diesel a year. That is a very icky tune that emits a lot of carbon dioxide and particulates. In fact, WSF's ferry fleet is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in state government, so Gov. Jay Inslee issued an executive order in 2019 for the system to transition to an all-electric fleet . The initial steps will involve converting some of biggest, most polluting ferries to a hybrid electric propulsion system, and purchasing new electric ferries as well. The hybrid-electric ferries will reduce fuel consumption by up to 95 percent.

That's a nicer tune, since it hums. Inslee also noted when he announced the initiative that transitioning to electric propulsion would help "eliminate engine noise and vibration that can hurt orcas," so maybe he saw this summer's Orca Uprising coming.

Vigor, the company contracted to do some of the work, explained the project's goals:

By 2040, the WSF plan calls for replacing 13 existing diesel ferries with new hybrid-electric ferries and converting six vessels to plug-in hybrid, as well as placing recharging capacity at many WSF terminals. Hybrid vessels would be capable of charging at the terminal, and some vessels would be able to operate in fully electric mode on shorter routes. The plan indicates that if all the new vessels and upgrades it calls for are realized, carbon dioxide emissions could be below the 2050 reduction target by 2034.

Norway has been running electric ferries for a few years now; the things are charged during loading and unloading by great giant automated high voltage systems, like wow.

The new ferries are still in the planning stage right now, but Washington's $3.98 billion electrification program will include boosts from the Biden administration, including a current grant for $11.6 million for ferry improvements and electrification , out of a total of about $130 million for Washington in the current round of infrastructure allocations.

Washington's ferry system is coming off a couple of rotten years; during the pandemic, ridership fell off and staff quit or were transferred to other departments, and delays have been a constant problem. Electrifying the system should help reduce the amount of downtime for maintenance, since electric propulsion just plain has fewer things to break than stinky old diesels, too.

The electrification project has had its own setbacks; the state and Vigor couldn't agree on a contract, so plans to launch the first electric ferry by 2024 also fell through. New bids are underway. The first new ferry now isn't expected to launch until 2027, but the first ferry to be converted from diesel to hybrid electric drive is still planned to go back into service in 2024, followed by two more.

While visiting Washington, Buttigieg also called attention to a whole bunch of other infrastructure upgrades the administration is helping with, but they aren't electric ferries so you can just go read about them yourselves, it's time for lunch.

[ My Northwest / AP / Vigor / CleanTechnica / Seattle Times ]

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