It’s wonderful to see that the dreams of East by West Ferries have come true, with the launching of the Ika Rere, the brand new electric ferry that will ply its way from Wellington to Eastbourne and back. It is a striking design, with the twin prows of the catamaran almost vertical for chopping through the waves of the harbour, and a vibrant acqua / turquoise colour scheme all over, tying in with the branding of Meridian, electric company / weather forecast sponsor.
Scoop reports that it can transport 132 passengers at a time, at a speed of 20 knots, which is super fast for a ferry. The Wellington Electric Boat Building Company (or WEBBCo) is not letting much on at present about what it has under the hood / down in the hulls, but they are very pleased with themselves over this vessel – and so they should be, as it is believed to be the first electric Ferry in the Southern Hemisphere, according to East West.
Actually, that’s not 100% true, as I remember that Zealandia had developed a tiny electric boat to, well, ferry people up the lake at the wildlife sanctuary, probably about 20 years ago. I think it is still there, but as they have been draining the lake recently to kill off the introduced fish like perch and carp, it may be currently out of action. But hey, still, isn’t it technically a ferry? Even if it did only have a capacity for about 5 people… – and I’ve just managed to find it online – the Ara Kawau (or Pathway of the Shag), which is apparently a Duffy electric boat, made in the USA and recently refitted with new batteries. It is crazy small and also very cute, but in this photo, looks a little run down…
Anyway – the Ika Rere (great name Jeremy!) is not quite available for passenger use just yet as they are still doing sea trials etc, but apparently it will have a 15minute recharge after each return crossing. There’s this electric recharge point on the wharf where they can just charge up and plug in – looks about as tricky as plugging your phone in to recharge.
What is really cool about all this is that Jeremy Ward, the owner of East by West Ferries, set up a whole new company to build the Ika Rere (and hopefully, many more) called the Wellington Electric Boat Building Company, (and click on that link to see how fast their ferry goes – it’s really shifting!) where they had to virtually invent the whole thing from scratch. The vessel is made from composites like the carbon fibre hulls of the America’s Cup boats, so it should be super strong and super light. Well, presumably the body was super light, but now it must be heavier with some massive batteries in there. There’s no word on the company pages about what the battery or motor technology is, but I gather they had to invent a lot of that as well.
“The electric propulsion and power management system was custom developed and designed to suit the route and charging infrastructure, and is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere.”
“The advanced battery management system provides constant system supervision, providing safety functions as well as real-time system capacity and health data. The VCAM virtual camera system provides the skipper with dynamic visual performance data – allowing them to make the best decisions in how to operate the vessel.“
And that quote from their website tells me precisely nothing…. So, Wellington is watching and waiting! One day soon I hope !
Now put in a ferry to Miramar!
Why hello Joanna, yes, that is a good idea – I think that if / when Shelly Bay actually goes ahead, there will be a huge need for Ferry connection to the City. But until then, due to complete lack of parking etc in a convenient spot in Miramar, its a probable No. On the other hand, Seatoun is more likely – and used to be a prime ferry location. Maybe one day it will be again…?
“huge need for Ferry connection [from Shelly Bay} to the City” – highly unlikely. In public transport terms Shelly Bay is a small development, and the likelihood of not particularly frequent ferry meeting the needs of a worthwhile proportion of them is pretty low.
“But until then, due to complete lack of parking etc in a convenient spot in Miramar, its a probable No”- East by West has been talking about a CBD-airport link via ferry to Miramar then shuttle bus, but there’s nothing definite as yet (and a new airport bus service will be starting this year).
“Seatoun is more likely”: until Seatoun wharf closed last September for rebuilding it had a ferry service every day of the week – peak times during the week, round-the-harbour excursions at weekends.
And it looks as if there’s technical information about the new ferry in the Sept/Oct 2021 issue of Professional Skipper magazine.
Betterbee, once again you have dashed my hopes and aspirations due to your superior knowledge about travel matters… And I don’t even subscribe to Professional Skipper magazine – can you post up some more info?
But while I’m not a great supporter of Shelly Bay in its present form (they really need to sort out legal ownership before talking about building!!) – it really can’t go ahead in its present form with the road as its only connection, unless everyone living there is a retiree or Working From Home…. But if there were 500 homes, and therefore at least 1000 people, wouldn’t a route from Miramar to Queens Wharf be able to take a quick stop at Shelly Bay? I’m thinking of the Harbour Ferries in Sydney, where you have about 9 routes –
F1 Manly
F2 Taronga Zoo
F3 Parramatta River
F4 Pyrmont Bay
F5 Neutral Bay
F6 Mosman Bay
F7 Double Bay
F8 Cockatoo Island
F9 Watsons Bay
and about 36 stops. Patronage is much higher of course, but we have to start somewhere, don’t we?
We do indeed have to start somewhere, which is the existing ferry network.
A Miramar ferry making a quick stop at Shelly Bay is a tempting idea, but (sorry!) quick stops are hard to do on a ferry that requires a slow approach, with an enforced – see https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/117018045/east-by-west-ferry-company-fined-380000-for-grounding-and-safety-breaches – 5 knot (c10km/h) speed limit within 200m of the shore or any structures, careful berthing and tying up. Take into account that this would be a stop on the airport route, competing with the car and the new electric bus for patronage, and with a change from ferry to shuttle bus at Miramar, and I suggest that the powers that be would be reluctant to slow the ferry down for a small number of passengers.
As for patronage, the example of Seatoun may be instructive. Until the wharf rebuild it had one commuter ferry inbound in the morning and two outbound in the evening, providing a faster but more expensive link to the city centre than the bus, and it attracted generally fewer than half-a-dozen boardings per trip (the primary reason for the service’s existence was to carry the several dozen Eastbourne-resident Scots College pupils from/to Days Bay, a much shorter/faster trip than by road, then proceeding to/from the city). Yes it was a limited service, but so would a Shelly Bay service be, with a smaller catchment.
A Shelly Bay ferry would be nice, but there are a few relevant factors to be considered.
There is a bit on the Battery here
https://www.electrive.com/2021/04/22/xalt-to-deliver-batteries-for-new-zealands-first-electric-ferry/
“The ferry will have 72 liquid-cooled battery packs on board, providing around 550 kWh of energy and powering two twin electric motors……
According to this
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124730936/wellingtons-electric-ferry-is-close-but-it-may-be-next-year-before-it-can-do-full-schedule
The charger that is on the wharf now will take 60-90mins to charge (its 300kw),,, [ indicating that around 50-75% of the 550kwh capacity is expected to be used for a return trip..
They are looking at a MW class charger in the next 12-18 months which would allow the 15 minute charging… Although continued fast charging like that is notoriously bad for battery life span….
Taking an hour or so to charge means it can’t run back to back sailings (yet) , but as its additional to the current fleet it shouldn’t be hard to redesign the schedules to accommodate it…