Social and environmental impacts of battery powered ferries in Australia

A promising new trend in zero emission transportation is battery powered electric ferries. In this context the world’s first battery powered electric ferry was launched in 2015 in Norway. More countries, including Denmark, Hong Kong and China have recently added battery powered ferries into their fleet making the trend worldwide. Greenhouse gas emissions and negative consequences of such emissions on the environment lead to the motivation of introducing these electric ferries with zero emissions. While seeing this global trend for battery powered electric ferries, no such ferries currently operate in Australian waters. A comprehensive analysis on the suitability and impacts of such ferries in Australia has also not been reported so far. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to fill this gap with a holistic view on the impacts of battery powered electric ferries in Australia. This paper emphasizes that not only the ferry but also the electrical power for charging the batteries should come from zero or low emission sources to claim the ferry as a ‘really green’ ferry. Whilst this is not been possible in many cases, Tasmania is an ideal place for battery powered ferries as more than 80 percent of the electrical power comes from hydropower. In addition, the power consumption and associated emission in the process of extracting Lithium and recycling batteries are also being considered in the evaluation of overall impact of battery powered ferries in Australia.