The San Francisco Bay Ferry has received a financial boost from the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to advance its zero-emission, battery-electric ferry service to the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal in Alameda, the agency announced Oct. 24.
CalSTA awarded SF Bay Ferry a $12.5 million grant via the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).
The money is intended to help pay for procuring and installing “an electrified universal charging float” that includes battery storage and building infrastructure that allows electric vessels to charge while docked at the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal. The terminal’s also expected to undergo some modernization work.
The funding also would also allow for more ferry riders to charge their electric vehicles.
“SF Bay Ferry is committed to providing the region with the nation’s first zero-emission fleet of fast ferries and we are making tremendous progress thanks to this latest investment from the Newsom Administration,” SF Bay Ferry Board of Directors Chair Jim Wunderman said. “California understands that decarbonizing the transportation sector is essential to meeting the state’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals and this project makes Harbor Bay’s ferry service a part of that effort.”
SF Bay Ferry has been moving forward on its Rapid Electric Emission-Free Ferry (REEF) Program, a series of projects aimed at converting its fleet of vessels to ones that operate on zero-emission propulsion technology.
That includes buying three 150-passenger battery-electric ferries and two 400-passenger vessels and bringing electrification to terminals, among other projects.
Its first high-speed battery electric ferry could operate as early as 2026, according to SF Bay Ferry.
