bought two 10-seater electric craft<\/a> from local start-up Vessev.<\/p>\nHills said he was due to be briefed on the diesel ferry tender later this week.<\/p>\n
![\"Auckland]()
Auckland has the first hybrid-electric ferry, but Wellington got a smaller electric ferry, the Ika Rere, in March 2022. However, it recently spent 10 months out of action, which was blamed on difficulties sourcing spare parts \u2013 a point picked up on by some Auckland councillors as they questioned the new technology\u2019s reliability and decided to procure three more diesel vessels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had electrification high in our RLTP [Regional Land Transport Plan] and NLTF [National Land Transport Fund] process, but now the issue for AT is that if they put forward a tender that includes electric ferries, it\u2019s unlikely to get subsidised,\u201d Hills said.<\/p>\n
No central government politicians were on hand for today\u2019s cruise.<\/p>\n
Made in NZ<\/p>\n
The two 300-passenger hybrid electric ferries were made by Q-West boat builders in Whanganui, from an Incat Crowther design. The two fully electric ferries were made by East Tamaki\u2019s McMullen and Wing, from a design by its spin-off company EV Maritime. All four vessels have propulsion systems made by Christchurch\u2019s HamiltonJet.<\/p>\n
EV Maritime chief executive Michael Eaglen says a strong domestic electric ferry industry could be the springboard to creating a new high-tech exporter, if the city thinks long-term.<\/p>\n
AT\u2019s Cammock said a 2027 funding round would be the first opportunity to resume the electrification of the city\u2019s 30 ferries.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Fullers360 skipper Rob McKnight kept a tight ship as media and local body politicians boarded Waitemat\u0101 1 for today\u2019s cruise, which included some complimentary grub.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse a plate for the sausage rolls and don\u2019t put your fingers on the chairs,\u201d he ordered.<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The Waitemat\u0101 1<\/p>\n
Waitemat\u0101 1<\/p>\n
Owner: ATOperator: FullersLength: 32\u202fmetres Capacity: 300 passengers Crew: 3 Boat builder: Q-West, WhanganuiDesign: Incat CrowtherElectrical integration, storage: HamiltonJet Route: Devonport to Downtown\u202fAuckland Covered storage for up to 28\u202fbikes Construction: marine-grade aluminium Speeds: 28 knots (service), 36 knots (maximum)Cost $20m\u202fFunding: 49%\u202ffrom\u202fAuckland Council, including support from the Climate Action Transport Targeted Rate,\u202fand\u202f51%\u202fNZ Transport Authority<\/p>\n
The two hybrid ferries and two fully-electric ferries were due to be followed by a tender for three more electric vessels for an initial electrified fleet of seven. But in the event, Auckland Council, which AT sits under, decided to procure three diesels.<\/p>\n
Megacharger audit<\/p>\n
In December 2023, Swedish multinational ABB won a $27.6m contract to build three chargers for Auckland\u2019s electric ferries, to be operational in stages between July and December 2024:<\/p>\n
Three 3.3 megawatt (MW) berths for the Downtown Ferry Terminal (still in early construction)One 2.2MW berth at Hobsonville Point (abandoned due to budget constraints, amplified by the need to build a new pontoon. A 2027 funding round will be the first chance for a reboot)One 3.3MW berth at Half Moon Bay (built)<\/p>\n
The idea for is an overnight charge, followed by five to 10-minute top-up charges during the day as passengers alight.<\/p>\n
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald\u2019s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOn the Devonport route, with charging infrastructure in place, replacing one equivalent diesel ferry with an electric-hybrid could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[806,3952,138,78469,228522,3088,5205,133471,228520,14037,2550,228521,47117,71946,1888,2219,9476,296,3331,32739,4486,130,3180,111,139,1536,161462,69,90,6848,63502,2552,145,2044,61,1533,80],"class_list":["post-448525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-as","tag-aucklands","tag-business","tag-chargers","tag-citytodevonport","tag-commercial","tag-council","tag-devonport","tag-diesels","tag-electric","tag-even","tag-ferries","tag-ferry","tag-finished","tag-first","tag-gone","tag-hybrid","tag-into","tag-launch","tag-marking","tag-month","tag-more","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nowhere","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-orders","tag-route","tag-service","tag-technology","tag-time","tag-to","tag-will","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}