A shot of taxpayer funding will help ferry operator Fullers get its first electric vessel on to the water.
Auckland boatbuilding startup Seachange has landed a $500,000 grant in the latest round from the Government’s Low Emission Transport Fund see the full list of latest grants below).
Seachange is building two fully-electric 10-person, 8-metre hydrofoils - one of which will be used by Fullers on tourism runs.
The initiative is separate from a $150 million project to electrify Auckland’s ferry fleet which will see two 200-passenger hybrid ferries on Auckland Harbour sometime next year, if all goes to plan, with two fully-electric boats to follow, with a mix of local and central government funding.
Seachange, founded by Max Olson in 2017, originally talked up the long-term possibility of an electric car ferry that could challenge the Interislander on the Cook Strait run. New CEO Eric Laakmann says the next step will be more incremental, with a 100-passenger, 18m electric hydrofoil in the design phase (KiwiRail, meanwhile, has ordered two hybrid diesel-electric “mega ferries” from a South Korean shipyard for Cook Strait at a cost of $551m. They’re due in 2025/2026.)
When Fullers and Seachange announced their partnership in December last year, they said they would get a 10-person, 8m “F8″ on the water by September this year.
Deadlines have inevitably slipped, as is the nature of new technology projects, but Laakmann says a test F8 should be on the water by December, with the second vessel handed to Fullers in February, then a broader commercial launch in March.
The F8 will be capable of 30 knots (about 55km) with a range of about 45km.
Auckland Transport has earmarked $30m for the electrification of Auckland wharves with industrial-strength super chargers that will be able to top-up one of the coming 200-person ferries during a five-minute turnaround.
That tender is still very much a work in progress, but Laakmann says the 10-seater F8 will charge from existing infrastructure - in around five hours. With a standard DC fast charger, that will be reduced to one hour.
Laakmann - a lead engineering programme manager on the first Apple Watch - is an American who had been sailing around the world with his wife before pandemic border closures saw their Auckland stopover turn into an extended stay. He ended up taking a chief product officer role with Seachange as the couple decided to put roots down in the city. In December, he and Olson swapped roles, with the founding CEO becoming chief technology officer. Laakmann pitches it as the classic scenario of a technically-minded founder deciding they’re best-suited to a product development role.
The CEO says the $500,000 will be used for R&D and product development.
Seachange has also drawn funding from NZ’s Icehouse Ventures (which has a 25 per cent stake) and Australasian VC Blackbird Ventures (12 per cent).
Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 (6 per cent) and Ports of Auckland (2 per cent) have also chipped in. Olson, who was with the Peter Beck-backed smartcow startup Halter before founding Seachange, remains the largest single shareholder with a 43 per cent stake.
Olson hired Team NZ, Oracle Racing and SailGP alumni to help develop Seachange’s hydrofoiling technology.
The firm has not partnered with an established boat builder, instead creating its own 1000 sqm facility in Auckland’s Mt Wellington.
He says Seachange is still in the process of finalising pricing for the F8, or the pending 100-passenger, 18m vessel.
Each can say that each will cost more than traditional equivalents - but that buyers will save 89 per cent over diesel fuelling costs, and that maintenance should be cheaper and easier due to fewer moving parts.
While an F8 could quickly and quietly glide you to Waiheke, Fullers CEO Mike Heine uses sample pricing that’s roughly twice the cost of chugging there and back on a noisy diesel.
A party could hire one for a day trip to Waiheke at $95 per head, while an evening “thrill ride” around the harbour could cost $145 per person, the Fullers boss tells the Herald.
Beyond anchor client Fullers, Laakmann says Seachange is talking to ferry and tourism operators around the North Island and South Island.
The 18 projects other funded in the latest two Low Emission Transport Fund founding rounds, announced by Energy Minister Megan Woods this morning.
A total of $6.4m was dished out, matched by $18.2m in spending by the recipients. The LETF is administered by the EECA.
ChargeNet NZ: $500,000
ChargeNet, Openloop and Z are working together on a proof of concept for roaming capability between their public EV charging networks.
This is a trial enabling EV owners to use different charging networks from one account.
CentrePort: $500,000
CentrePort is working with StraitNZ to reduce transport emissions, by enabling shore-based power to ferries moored at King’s Wharf. A shore-based power supply will allow StraitNZ ferries to turn their diesel engines and generators off while in berth in Wellington and still maintain power to their onboard systems. The benefits of this initiative include reduced carbon emissions and better air quality.
CentrePort provides the wharves and infrastructure that Cook Strait ferries use in Wellington. Equipment enabling shore power for StraitNZ ferries will be installed at King’s Wharf and in the nearby electrical network to support the additional load on the grid.
Providing shore-based power for StraitNZ ferries is part of CentrePort’s wider programme to reduce emissions in the New Zealand supply chain and be a carbon-zero port by 2040.
Fletcher Concrete and Infrastructure: $499,500
Winstone Aggregates will be the first quarry in New Zealand to pilot a 90-tonne electric dump truck in Belmont Quarry.
This project will pilot the application of the largest available class of heavy electric vehicles in the New Zealand extractive industries.
Red Phase Technologies: $500,000
Red Phase Technologies will trial a grid-integrated, grid supporting Battery Electric Storage System (BESS) integrated with 4 ultra-fast chargers. The project plans to prove the potential of BESS to enable fast deployment of the charging stations by minimising grid upgrades.
Firth Industries: $137,000
Will trial an electric wheel loader for use in the manufacturing of concrete.
Reliance Transport: $500,000
Will purchase and operate a Reachstacker and 16-tonne forkhoists and install a microgrid to enable a 350 kW charger.
TDX: $498,625
Will demonstrate three electric wheel loaders including one pre-production Volvo 20-tonne electric wheel loader.
Leach & Co: $104,000
Will replace a diesel-powered wheel loader with an electric XC968EV 19,850 kg wheel loader in Southern landfill operations.
Brian Perry Civil: $432,855:
Will create a zero emission construction crew to support their ambitious goal of 30 per cent carbon reduction by 2030 and to inspire the wider industry to aim high. BPC will use an electric excavator, tipper and wheel loader and install 60kW and 90kW chargers.
Outback NZ (trading as Nomad Safaris/Info & Track/Info & Snow): $217,125
Will replace one of its diesel 25-seat coaches with an electric 25-seat coach for visitor transport to the Routeburn Trailhead in the summer and Coronet Peak and The Remarkables ski fields in the winter.
Fruehauf NZ: $200,000
Wants to demonstrate a Model Schmitz Cargobull 13.5m refrigerated electric trailer technology for the transport of food and chilled goods to the NZ Transport Operators.
Isaac Construction: $285,500
Plans to implement the first electrified road crew in New Zealand. This project will test the viability of current battery electric technology in the construction industry.
Naut: $498,000
Will demonstrate a mass manufacturable 150 HP electric outboard propulsion system on a 7m vessel.
Real Journeys (Trading as Realnz): $240,000
Will electrify two tender craft used for an overnight boat. One is co-funded by EECA and the other is fully funded by Real Journeys T/A Realnz.
Evocean Electric Power & Propulsion: $39,850
Will design and build an electric vessel for use as marina security and work boat.
EV Maritime: $200,508
Will build an intelligence platform to harness insights from data onboard its vessels. It is designed to increase operational efficiency and resilience in electric ferries.
Next Generation Boats: $300,000
Will import an electric hydrofoiling boat, the Candela C-8 (made by Swedish firm Candela) and use it as a technology demonstrator for NZ businesses involved in tourism (tourist sightseeing boat) and marine transport (water taxi, light ferry).
Electric Wave: $267,000
Will install electric marine charging infrastructure, demonstrating the viability of electric marine vessels with large power requirements and establishing marine side electric charging capability.
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