Auckland’s electric ferries: ABB wins supercharger contract, boatmaker updates on delivery

In the new era of cutbacks, a low-emission public transport project is charging ahead. The final piece of the Auckland electric ferry puzzle has fallen into place, with Swedish multi-national ABB winning the contract to install superchargers on piers - with the promise of a top-up charge in five to 10 minutes as passengers hop off and on.

It means Auckland’s first two electric ferries - currently under construction in East Tāmaki by McMullin & Wing for EV Maritime - will have somewhere to charge when they hit the water in the second half of next year. There will be several months of testing before commercial operation begins. Two diesel-electric hybrids, due early 2025, are also on the way as the city’s 27-vessel fleet begins its multi-year electrification programme.

'Launch probably won’t be June, but we’re still on track for both boats to be in the water in 2024, which will line up well with the first of the charging stations coming online' - EV Maritime CEO Michael Eaglen, pictured at McMullen & Wing in East Tamaki where Auckland's first two electric ferries are under construction. Photo / Michael Craig

The $27.6 million ABB contract is for an initial five megawatt-level charging solutions for Auckland Transport - three at the main ferry terminal, one at Hobsonville Point and one at Half Moon Bay. It covers the entire design, supply, installation and commissioning of all five chargers and the associated infrastructure, AT low emission ferry programme director Nathan Cammock told the Herald.

Fifty-one per cent of the funding is coming from New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and 49 per cent from Auckland Council’s Climate Action Transport Targeted Rate, Cammock said.

The supercharger contract has come in under the $30m AT had been budgeting,

Central government has chipped in with $27m to cover 75 per cent of the cost of AT’s first two electric ferries, while AT has earmarked $80m for seven hybrids or electric boats to follow.

Electric ferries are more expensive than diesel-powered vessels. But EV Maritime founder Michael Eaglen argues that will be balanced out, and then some, by lower running costs.

It’s a case of “pay more now to pay less later”, Eaglen said.

“In the public transport space, where the vessels are much, much busier than they might be in private [operation] or even in the tourism sector, the economics for electrifying ferries are quite compelling.

A render of what it will look like inside one of the two "EVM200" electric ferries being built by McMullen & Wing. Whil