— from Washington State Ferries —
Greening our fleet is a major priority, and I’m proud to say we took a big step forward this week with the launch our Hybrid-Electric Ferry Build Program! Representatives from our many partners in the maritime industry gathered at Vigor’s Seattle Shipyard on Monday to dedicate a sign marking the future construction site of the program.
Earlier this year, state legislators and the governor authorized a contract extension for Vigor to build up to five 144-car Olympic class hybrid-electric ferries. They also approved funds for the construction of one of those vessels. Design and engineering work is currently underway. Construction is scheduled to start in late 2020, with service scheduled to begin in 2023.
Wonder where the electricity is going to come from the charge these vessels up? Can it be that we have lots of surplus hydro around to do this job? Or is it already used up serving other customers? Since it has a very low incremental cost, seems that it would all be gone.
So much for “greening the fleet”.
I doubt if they are planning to make it a plug-in vessel that will draw electrical power from the grid, but rather a hybrid like a modern locomotive or Toyota Prius where it’s internal combustion engine powers a generator which gives it much better fuel efficiency.