Stuff Digital Edition

Purring cat sails to the future

Matthew Tso

Behind their sunnies, Jeremy Ward and Fraser Foot are beaming with pride at the entrance of Ika Rere’s passenger cabin as they help transport officials, politicians and media aboard.

The duo are responsible for resurrecting boat-building in Wellington and are about to launch the first fully electric passenger ferry in the southern hemisphere.

‘‘I hadn’t even noticed we’d left,’’ says one dignitary as the 19-metre catamaran pulls away from Queens Wharf.

Without the cue of a chugging diesel engine it’s easy to miss your own departure.

‘‘The fact that we’re sitting here and not having to yell at each other is the advantage over combustion [engines],’’ says Foote as the boat picks up speed through the light chop on Te Whanganui-a-Tara. About 51⁄2 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries power the 19-metre craft’s electric motor – a faint throbbing of the propellers is the only indication it’s running.

The Wellington Electric Boat Building Company was founded three years ago by Foote, a boat-builder with decades of

experience, and Ward, the managing director of East by West Ferries.

Foote says if the writing isn’t on the wall yet, it’s climbing up the skirting board – the amount of interest in Ika Rere (Flying Fish) from New Zealand and around the world strongly suggests the future is electric.

‘‘Potential clients aren’t building diesel boats – they know they’ve got to move to electric propulsion.’’

Electric boats, he says, are quieter, and more economical. ‘‘[East by West] will be saving $250,000 on fuel and $50,000 in maintenance.’’

Ward says the world can’t get away from the need for sustainable solutions. While East by West’s ambition is to eventually replace its diesel boats with ones similar to Ika Rere, the transport industry is increasingly looking at electric alternatives, and he wants to see Wellington Electric Boat Building Company’s craft being used elsewhere in New Zealand and abroad.

Foote says passenger boats the scale of Ika Rere haven’t been built in Wellington in more than 20 years, but now they have their proof of concept, the hope is to start production in Lower Hutt in the not too distant future.

‘‘The intention is to build a factory in Seaview and produce four to five boats a year.’’

Ward says the batteries have a surprisingly long life. They will be used as onboard fuel cells and later as drop-in capacitors for over a decade, and would still be useful for years after in areas like agriculture.

‘‘On top of that they’ll be running on 100 per cent renewable energy from Meridian, and are something like 97 or 98 per cent recyclable.’’

Ward was looking forward to officially unveiling Ika Rere in a public opening on December 16, after which the boat will slowly be phased in over summer.

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2021-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281698323024761

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