ABB will deliver the maritime industry’s first megawatt charging system (MCS) for Auckland Transport’s all-electric and hybrid-electric ferries in New Zealand.
The new ferries will help Auckland Transport reduce annual fuel consumption by approximately 1.5 million litres, helping avoid about 4,000 metric tonnes of CO2e emissions.
“It is incredibly exciting to lead the way with modern, low-emission public transport,” said Nathan Cammock, programme director, Auckland Transport (AT).
“Our new Auckland-owned ferries will bring greater passenger capacity, improved accessibility and a more consistent customer experience. They will rely on modern charging infrastructure to deliver on these capabilities.”
Overcoming barriers
The shore-to-ship charging system uses an interface common to trucking and aviation and is expected to lower market barriers to entry for electric ships and improve electric vessel competitiveness against fossil-fueled counterparts.
ABB will work with local partners to deliver, engineer and install five complete charging solutions during 2024 and 2025 at several ferry terminals. Each system will feature a pair of 1.65MW chargers, consisting of a transformer, ACS880 converters, MCS plugs and cable management on the ferry pontoons.
The chargers will deliver over three megawatts of direct current (DC) power to sustain the short turnarounds and high-power demands needed to maintain an efficiently operated ferry fleet. The connectors will be handled by crew during passenger turnarounds.
The Auckland installation will also be the first MCS supplied by ABB to benefit from the standardised plug-in interface, although the group has been delivering shore-to-ship power for over 20 years since an initial contract with Princess Cruises in Alaska. It will be similar in charging capacity to ABB’s landmark project to support 10 all-electric ferries for public transportation provider Transtejo Soflusa in Lisbon, Portugal.
As part of its Mission Electric initiative, AT has ordered two 200-seat all-electric ferries and two 300-passenger hybrid-electric ferries and is expected to become the largest electric ferry fleet operator in the Southern Hemisphere by 2030.
Replacing conventional, diesel-operated ferries, the new ferries are estimated to help AT cut diesel use by 1.5 million litres, and CO2e emissions by 4,000 metric tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions generated by about 90 diesel buses.
While ferries carry only 6% of public transport users in Auckland, their diesel engines produce 20% of the city’s public transport greenhouse gas emissions.
New Zealand has set decarbonisation goals by including a 2050 net-zero emissions target in its Zero Carbon Act.
