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SAN FRANCISCO’S HYDROGEN FERRY
THE FIRST HYDROGEN FUEL-CELL FERRY is now operating in San Francisco Bay. Marika Price Spitulski gives details at Nice News, July 15, 2024.
Cutting Pollution. Hitherto, conventional diesel engines power the world’s shipping industry—and emit something like 3 percent of the world’s total greenhouse emissions. Indeed, such is their impact that Wikipedia writes, “According to the World Bank, in 2022, the shipping industry’s 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions make it ‘the sixth largest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide, ranking between Japan and Germany.’ “
The MV Sea Change. Price Spitulski reports, “San Francisco has a range of public transit options, from BART to the iconic cable cars. And starting this week, the nation’s first hydrogen-fueled commercial passenger ferry will also be in the mix.”
Marika continues, “ ‘It’s all electric drive,’ Joe Pratt, CEO of Zero Emission Industries, told Fast Company. ‘What that means is you don’t have the engine noise. You don’t have the vibration. It’s kind of like a really big sailboat that’s just cruising silently through the bay.’ Pratt, whose company designed the boat, added that its sole byproduct is water vapor: ‘It’s the only vessel in the world where you can actually drink the exhaust.’”
A Fuel-Cell EV. That is, the Sea Change’s propulsion is electric, its bank of fuel cells transforming oxygen in the air and hydrogen into electricity with no emissions other than heat and the purest of water.
In fact, Marika writes, “And that isn’t a hypothetical—the ship remineralizes and reroutes that water vapor to both drinking fountains and bathrooms on board.”
A Free Six-month Pilot Program. “Beginning July 19,” Marika says, “the 70-foot catamaran, called the MV Sea Change, will be taking up to 75 passengers at a time along the waterfront between Pier 41 and the San Francisco Ferry Building. Not only is the vessel innovative and eco-friendly, but it’s also free for the first six months as part of a pilot program.”
Her report continues, “ ‘The implications for this are huge because this isn’t its last stop,’ Jim Wunderman, chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, told the Associated Press. ‘If we can operate this successfully, there are going to be more of these vessels in our fleet and in other folks’ fleets in the United States, and we think in the world.’ ”
Image from YouTube via Nice News.
Marika quotes Frank Wolak, president and CEO of the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association: “The real value of this is when you multiply out by the number of ferries operating around the world. There’s great potential here.”
Indeed, not only for ferry routes, but in sea-lane operations as well.
Marika recounts, “ ‘Running on hydrogen costs more than running on diesel, but that could change in the next decade or so,’ John Motlow, Zero Emission Industries’ chief strategy office, explained to the outlet. ‘If you look at the next 10 years, there’s a very good chance that the price per kilogram of hydrogen will be cheaper than the price of a gallon of diesel.’ ”
Land-borne Counerparts. Wikipedia notes, “As of 2024, approximately 50,000 hydrogen forklifts are in operation worldwide (the bulk of which are in the U.S.), as compared with 1.2 million battery electric forklifts that were purchased in 2021.” Fuel-cell operation is considered beneficial because it often takes place within enclosed environments.
Class 8 Long-hauls. The efficiency of fuel-cell operation makes it a natural for heavy trucking. Carly Schaffner at Automotive News, May 17, 2024, reports, “Honda’s Fuel Cell Truck Technology is Ready for Work.”
Hydrogen internal combustion is another option for “nearly carbon-free” power. However, as Automotive News queried July 7, 2024, “Will California Rules Derail Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines Vehicles?” True, hydrogen i.c. has essentially no carbon in its combustion. However our atmosphere is 78-percent nitrogen and the resulting NOx, oxides of nitrogen, of internal combustion are regulated emissions.
What’s more, challenged by hydrogen’s on-board storage and infrastructure complexities, why not go the step further to fuel cell’s efficiency and environmental benefits? ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024
Simanaitis Says 
Hi Dennis,
Interesting piece as usual, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention why we haven’t gone to mass fuel cell transportation. H2 is produced in energy-intensive ways, making it not really a fuel, but an intermediary. Whether you separate it from H2O or from natural gas, it takes more energy to produce it than you get back, plus the pollution you create in the process. As usual, Green projects ignore the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
I hope you’re enjoying your retirement from R&T,
Tom
The fuel cell ferry (like any fuel cell or battery-powered EV) *is* zero local emissions. That is important when dealing with traditional air quality (ozone, NOx, exhaust particulates). All electric transportation is essentially “remote emission.” The question is, what are the characteristics of that remote emission and where does it happen?
For a given grid, batteries are more efficient at storing energy than hydrogen, no question, so the net emissions from the grid for a kwh used are lower. But there are other things to consider too. Batteries, though much better than they once were, are not constant-output devices; fuel cells are, as long as there’s enough fuel flow. Batteries also take a long time to recharge fully, while fuel (even compressed gases) can be “recharged” fairly quickly. For commercial transportation, where the vehicle is not making money when not operating, the relatively fast refueling can justify using something with lower overall efficiency of energy storage and release. For personal transportation, batteries are of course more appropriate in most cases.
Of course, this assumes that the hydrogen is “green” = not produced by reforming natural gas or other fossil fuels. At present, only a small fraction of hydrogen is NOT produced using fossil fuel. It seems possible (though I haven’t seen the numbers) that the ferry could be lower emission overall (including GHGs) by just burning LNG or CNG in an ICE with good emission control (for the traditional pollutants) than by using hydrogen produced from reformed natural gas.
Another downside to batteries, other than long recharge time, is their weight. A not insignificant amount of that stored energy is consumed in dragging around that additional weight (compared to liquid or compressed gas fuels).
Also, the extra weigh of BEVs results in shortened lifespans for road infrastructure. Road construction, even if all the construction equipment were electrified, still has a significant environmental impact due to the asphalt, which comes from hydrocarbons. If concrete were used in lieu of asphalt, there would still be a significant hit, as cement production is not exactly CO2 friendly either.