||| FROM KING-TV SEATTLE |||
SEATTLE — KING 5 got an exclusive look at new hybrid-electric Washington State Ferries (WSF) boat models.
The new boats will include charging units on the upper decks.
WSF leaders told KING 5 the new fleet will be the most reliable it’s ever been.
Regular ferry riders shared their frustrations with daily sailing delays and cancellations.
Some Vashon Island residents who were recently riding the King County Water Taxi said they’re opting for the “foot ferry” because they can’t always rely on the car ferry.
“We know that we’re not meeting expectations right now,” said Steve Nevey, WSF assistant secretary. “We do have plans in place to get there, it’s just going to take time and patience.”
WSF said the new hybrid-electric boats will offer more than one way to move people and cars across the water.
The 75-year-old ferry system is moving forward on its electrification plan.
People may be wondering why Washington state is not leading the way in operating a “green” fleet ahead of other systems across the country or around the world.
Nevey said there are a few reasons for that.
First, the original electrification plan was written just before the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot changed since then.
Evolved technology is part of the new plan.
Major changes on board
Vessel charging receptacles will be on the upper bridge deck. Open-air passenger lounges beneath each pilothouse provide approximately 50 open-air seats per end.
WSF said a “high level of accessibility” will remain in place to meet all passengers’ needs.
The new hybrid-electric boats will have reduced topside structure to lower lifecycle cost.
Forty-seven feet of length will be added to the vessel near midship to allow for a 160-vehicle capacity. That is in comparison to 144-vehicle capacity on Olympic Class vessels – the most recent ferries added to the fleet between 2014-2018.
“The best ferry technology in the industry,” according to WSF, will be below deck.
A flexible hybrid propulsion plant that includes two diesel engines as well as two battery banks will power two electric motors on each end.
New boats will have rapid-charging technology to charge the batteries during each scheduled terminal stop.
All future WSF vessels will have three modes of operation – battery only, hybrid mode and a backup diesel mode.
WSF said the first five hybrid-electric vessels in the plan are expected to save a combined 240 million gallons of diesel over their 60-year lifespan.
These vessels are a major component of WSF’s System Electrification Plan, which will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 76% by the year 2040.
By 2050, WSF aims to be at a “zero emissions” status.
Electrification timeline
“In addition to making us greener, it grows our fleet to provide the level of service we need to deliver to the customers,” said Matt Von Ruden, WSF system electrification program administrator.
By the end of this year – WSF will know the number of builders it will work with to build the new fleet.
Contract awards will go out at the start of 2025.
“About a year after that, we would start construction and we plan to have the first vessels – hopefully, two vessels on the water in 2028,” Von Ruden said.
The plan is to have two more hybrid electric vessels on the water by 2029 and a fifth boat ready in 2030.
Von Ruden said running hybrid-electric boats versus fully electric vessels is the best option.
“In battery-only mode, where we hope to operate most of the time, it’ll be simple bringing power from the electrical grid,” Von Ruden said. “In hybrid electric mode, the batteries, and the engines work together, the engine operates at peak efficiency all the time – when there’s extra power it sends it to the batteries.”
Von Ruden said ferry reliability will change drastically – and for the better.
The average age of boats in the current fleet is about 40 years old. The expectation is to keep a vessel in service for 60 years, which will be the same expectation for each new hybrid-electric ferry.
What are the main causes for delays and cancellations?
In the current 21-vessel WSF fleet – 15 boats are in service.
While maintenance issues are part of scheduling changes – WSF said there are several other components to delays and cancellations.
“Going into the pandemic, the system had issues and the pandemic just really ripped the Band-Aid off those issues,” Nevey said. “I think over the last two, three years, we’ve really been putting in solutions that are going to set the system up to be healthy and resilient long term. It just takes time for those solutions to actually bear fruit. We’re starting to bear fruit now.”
In May – Nevey said WSF had its first week with no staffing cancellations.
“The boats are running late because they’re older,” Nevey said. “As we get newer boats, hopefully, they can be more reliable to keep the schedule.”
However, Nevey said there are, at times, things that impact scheduling that are completely out of WSF’s control.
“If there’s a some kind of an emergency or if you have to respond to a rescue for the Coast Guard or someone’s car stalls on the ferry – that puts the boat behind and then it runs behind all day,” Nevey said. “It’s really hard to catch back up on the schedule. So, there’s a lot of factors that WSF doesn’t control, but we’re trying to work on our schedules and make the system as reliable and as resilient as possible.”
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I love making them electric, but if we’re talking about moving cars, we need to have a serious discussion around the long term cost of a ferry vs a tunnel or bridge.
It would have to start with 1-2 small routes, but look how long the Narrows bridge has stood.
Take the Pt. Defiance/Talequah route. Does anyone really think that maintaining a multi million dollar vessel on that route, then building another one in 30 years, is really cheaper than building tunnel or bridge that’s designed to last 100 years?
Even if people on Vashon had to pay a $15 toll every time they drove on the island, that’s still way cheaper and way more reliable than the consistently late WSF system with the ferry.
I love riding the ferry, but for moving vehicles, I truly don’t think it’s the most practical method
Louis.Jovanovich – If you think ferry boats are expensive, you should try a bridge… or a tunnel!
The real answer is to MOVE PEOPLE, NOT CARS.
Moving cars costs enormous dollars. Moving freight is more problematic, especially heavy freight. Best to not decide on battery technology now, as designs today will be obsolete by the time these are actually built. The cost of batteries today, is outrageous. Lithium batteries are dangerous, especially on a passenger ferry. The Coast Guard is going to have a field day with regulating these batteries. Coast Guard certified batteries will be outrageously expensive, if history is any guide.
Wait until you see the cost of ticket prices. It will drive the poor off the islands.
Batteries might not have to be lithium by the time specs for batteries are finalized. Other materials are being looked at. Lithium is subject to source uncertainty because of where it’s found. And battery weight in ferries is less of an issue than in, say, cars.. Stay tuned. Things are moving fast.
People movers make more sense in the far more urban South Sound.Rural areas are far more likely to need cars than urban areas. Weekly groceries are heavy, and rain or ice can make a rural driveway a hazard for water, cold and/or falls. I think car (and truck) ferries will be with us, performing variably, for a long time.
Is there a bigger tool in Washington’s government than Jay Inslee!?
You are getting what you voted for Washington!
So many issues to comment on.
First, Steve Nevey is basically wrong in saying “the boats are running late because they are getting older.” It’s scheduling, crewing, congestion (think Lopez and three ferries arriving at virtually the same time), and (arguably) overtime pay when a vessel is late at the end of a crew scheduled work schedule.
Bridges, which were the original plan in then 1950’s on the WSF short routes (not applicable to the San Juans) are likely three to four times the capital cost of a ferry, but they eliminate the often long waiting queues which virtually nobody considered the economics of the tens of thousands of hours virtually wasted (commercial and civilian) of queuing up for a ferry ride, not to mention the speed of ferries vs a driving speed across a bridge. WSF would save between $75M-$100M a year just in ferry wages … about 600 fewer ferry crew workers. Big picture maintenance costs would possibly be similar for ferries vs. bridges.
Western Washington becoming denser and the world is moving faster. Would wager by 2050, there will be fewer WSF vessels and more bridges across bridgeable routes in Puget Sound.
Finally, passenger only ferry advocates need to consider Kitsap Transit ferries and the service unreliability and costs they are facing even with the significant size of their fleet. Hard to see how passenger ferries could pencil out in San Juan County.