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https://thedriven.io/2026/05/20/australias-electric-ferry-trials-how-a-lack-of-foresight-drives-weak-ambition/>
"Electric ferries have gone from novelty to common sense in less than a decade.
Norway now runs over a hundred battery-electric car and passenger ferries as
everyday public transport, not as trials. High-speed electric hydrofoil fleets
are being rolled out for coastal routes, slashing fuel costs, noise and
emissions.
The physics did not change; the will did.
Australian Governments are still pretending we’re at the starting line.
The NSW government has just announced the “first Aussie-made electric ferry”
and the “first trial of an electric ferry” on Sydney Harbour.
Which is great.
But that’s spin, not fact.
Perth’s Little Ferry Company was a privately-operated fully electric
solar-powered ferry on the Swan River last decade, carrying paying passengers
day in, day out (at least until Covid happened).
Hobart’s Incat has already built China Zorrilla, the world’s largest
battery-electric ship, a 130-metre catamaran powered by more than 40 MWh of
batteries.
Both are Australian-built electric ferries. One was quietly working in Perth
for years; the other is a global flagship for electric vessels.
So when NSW trumpets a “first”, but then calls its first step a “trial”, its
really saying something else: We are late, and key advisors are still treating
proven tech as if it were experimental.
That matters, because the basics of operating a vessel – or a bus or a train –
do not change when you electrify.
Boats still float. The wheels on the bus still go round and round.
Skippers still berth, crews still tie up, timetables still rule the day. What
changes are the fundamentals that should interest any responsible operator:
* Energy costs drop, because electricity is cheaper and more predictable than
diesel.
* Reliability improves, because electric drivetrains have fewer moving parts
and less to break.
* Emissions at the point of use fall to zero, and as the grid decarbonises, so
do the “distant” emissions from generation.
Electric ferries should now be treated the same way as electric buses. We do
not run endless pilots and trials to find out whether an electric bus can
handle a city route; we know it can, because hundreds of thousands around the
world (mostly particularly China) already do.
Ferries – and buses and trains – are tied to known terminals and timetables –
ideal conditions for concentrated charging.
So the real question for governments and transport agencies is not “does it
work?”
The real question is: Why are we still commissioning diesel ferries and buses
at all?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
