Blueprints reveal America's Cup 'foiling' technology built in to Auckland's electric ferries
Thursday, 3 June 2021
Design work, including America’s Cup foiling technology, is complete on a pair of electric commuter ferries for Auckland, and both could be built in two years pending funding decisions.
Auckland-based EV Maritime said the 200-passenger, 24 metre, high-tech carbon fibre ferries would be built by boatyards McMullen and Wing, and Yachting Developments.
EV Maritime’s co-founder Michael Eaglen said work continues with Auckland Transport, power company Vector and operator Fullers360 on charging infrastructure, and the outcome of an application to the Government for “shovel-ready” project funding is awaited.
Ferries account for nearly 7 per cent of Auckland’s public transport journeys, but their large diesel engines produce 20.5 per cent of all public transport emissions in the city.
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“De-carbonising” the ferry fleet is a rising priority for Auckland Transport, and $30 million, including government funding, is provisionally budgeted over the next three years for charging infrastructure.
Auckland is committed to halving carbon emissions by 2030, and transport is the region’s biggest contributor, requiring a cut of around 64 per cent in that time.
Eaglen hoped the first two boats would be just the start of a fleet of Auckland-developed battery-powered ferries, capable of 25 knots, and a realistic range of 40km.
He said people with a background in America’s Cup design, and using simulator technology, were developing a foiling option in which the hulls would stay in the water, but be lifted higher.
“It enables a higher operating speed, and the foil reduces the displacement of the boat – lifting it slightly, about 20 per cent of its displacement,” Eaglen told Stuff.
“Some of the tools that have become a feature of America’s Cup design recently have given us the ability to make small changes in real time – you can simulate what it would be like to drive the boat, make a tweak and see how that changes things,” he said.
EV Maritime was working on a journey schedule which it calls Revo, in which a ferry could do a longer return to trip to either Hobsonville Point or Half Moon Bay, then do quick battery recharges on short routes such as to Devonport or Bayswater.
“Rather than stopping and charging for, say, 20 minutes after a long run, it can stop and charge for just four minutes on short trips while loading and unloading passengers, until fully charged and ready to go,” he said.
Eaglen said the company was working with other well-known New Zealand firms, such as propulsion specialist Hamilton Jet, on manoeuvring systems.
Funding and managing a new fleet of ferries has been a challenge for Auckland Transport for several years, with new diesel vessels costing around $5m – and AT has not awarded a new round of long-term contracts that would allow operators to invest in new boats with confidence.
Going electric adds new complexity to the equation: how to share the burden of the higher initial cost of ferries and charging infrastructure, with the gains from lower running costs expected in the longer term.
Eaglen said the work with Vector and AT on charging units included weighing up the costs and benefits of having a battery as part of the charge-up installation, to smooth out the peak loads on the network.
The outcome of funding bids may become known in the coming months and, all going well, Eaglen said production work could start in a further six to eight weeks at the two boatyards.
An electric ferry built in Wellington for local operator East by West Ferries could be in the water soon, but charging infrastructure, enabling it to do a full schedules of trips, could be a year or more away.