Global Ferry Electrification Accelerates: 70% Of New Orders Go Electric

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Seventy percent of ferries currently on order globally now feature electric drivetrains, a remarkable shift underscoring just how rapidly maritime transportation is decarbonizing. Norway has about 70 electric ferries running already, and there are likely north of 200 globally. There are about 15,400 ferries in operation around the world, new ones are overwhelmingly being purchased with electric drivetrains, and most operators have electric retrofit plans for existing vessels.

This transition, which seemed speculative just a decade ago, has moved swiftly from niche experiments in sustainability to mainstream procurement decisions, and the industry is now firmly on a trajectory toward large-scale electrification. The launch of vessels such as the China Zorrilla catamaran ferry, designed to operate between Argentina and Uruguay on a 200 km route at 25 knots multiple times a day, exemplifies the accelerating trend.

Worldwide, ferry services transport billions of passengers and millions of vehicles annually, connecting coastal communities, urban regions, and remote islands. Historically, this essential maritime infrastructure has relied on diesel propulsion, generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions, local air pollution, and operational inefficiencies.

Traditional ferries can account for disproportionately large emissions relative to their size and the distances they travel, making them ripe targets for electrification. Unlike transoceanic vessels, these emissions are always close to population centers, and impact the passengers as well. Consequently, as regulators globally tighten emission standards, operators face mounting pressure to rapidly decarbonize their fleets or risk regulatory penalties and higher operating costs.

This is in line with my projection of marine decarbonization through 2100, as it expected all inland and most short sea shipping to simply electrify. Ferries are all inland and short sea vessels, and the economic drivers behind the shift to battery drivetrains was clear to me when I built the global shipping demand projection and decarbonization curves three years ago.

Multiple factors have aligned to propel this electrification forward. International regulations led by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) now impose stringent targets for maritime emissions reduction, pushing operators to shift their capital investments toward cleaner alternatives. The technological maturity and declining costs of battery systems of varying chemistries have significantly altered the economics of electric propulsion. The capital cost gap between traditional diesel-powered ferries and battery-electric vessels is narrowing, while operational savings in fuel and maintenance rapidly offset any remaining premium.

Norway has been the epicenter of electric ferry innovation, demonstrating to the world that electric propulsion is both economically and operationally feasible at scale. Ampere, the world’s first fully electric car ferry, launched in 2015, set a precedent by operating reliably while achieving significant cost savings over diesel alternatives. Since then, Norway’s extensive ferry network has seen rapid electrification, catalyzed by supportive government policies, subsidies, and a robust charging infrastructure. They have about 70 electric ferries in operation, the most of any country in the world, which is remarkable given their 5.5 million population.

I’ll admit I was unfair to the country based on my assessment of the MF Hydra, a hydrogen-powered debacle with double the GHG emissions of the diesel ferry it replaced, and 40 times the emissions of battery-electric ferries on the same route. The Hydra was more of an outlier, not the mainstream of Norway’s ferry decarbonization plan. That said, they were also trying to develop a hydrogen ferry for some offshore islands. The China Zarillo is running the distance that that ferry was intended for and the hydrogen refueling facility is dead in the water regardless. I expect Norway to stop fussing around with the dead end molecule completely at some point, but even in their 2024 industrial policy, which eliminated most hydrogen for energy strategies, they did keep maritime shipping.

Following Norway’s lead, neighboring Denmark and Sweden have launched substantial electric ferry projects, embedding electric propulsion deeply into their maritime transport strategies.

In Asia, China has unsurprisingly emerged as a formidable player, leveraging state-backed investments and strategic industrial policies to become a leading producer and consumer of electric ferries, albeit still lagging Europe. China’s extensive inland waterways, coupled with its intense focus on reducing urban air pollution, have spurred widespread deployment of electric ferries in urban river crossings and coastal areas. Numbers are hard to find, as is true for ferries in general, but numbers out of China are always harder to get hold of.

It’s quite possible it has already exceeded Norway, but regardless I expect that China will be sailing away from the rest of the world very rapidly in the ferry segment, especially as their low-cost batteries and 59% of global shipbuilding, combined with the slowdown in ship orders due to Trump’s tariffs, mean that they have capacity and very economically viable cost points. China is leading overall on electrification of shipping, with the twin 700-unit container ships sailing 1,000 km routes port to port on the Yangtze powered by containerized batteries that are winched off to charge in the ports, with charged ones winched back in.

Japan is following suit, albeit cautiously, leveraging its advanced marine technology base to pioneer hybrid-electric ferries, carefully balancing full electrification with operational range and flexibility. Its ship yards, once major providers of ships for fleets globally, have been seriously outcompeted by both China and South Korea, so it has the capacity. Further, it had an early lead in batteries, one where China has also outcompeted it. It has domestic capacity to rapidly build electric ferries to ply its likely hundreds of routes.

North America is also beginning to see serious moves toward ferry electrification, most notably in regions with strong environmental mandates such as Washington State and British Columbia. The BC Ferries system, for example, has initiated substantial electrification projects, seeking to reduce its significant diesel footprint through battery-electric propulsion and hybrid configurations on shorter, frequent routes. BC is also buying a couple of big hybrid ferries, new ships in its biggest class.

Similar initiatives are evident along the US West Coast, notably in California, where robust climate policies encourage innovation and emissions reduction in maritime transportation. The US cities are going to be hampered in their efforts because of multiple factors. The no-longer-fit-for-purpose Jones Act and the market-is-always-right deindustrialization since 1980 have led to the almost complete disappearance of commercial shipbuilding in the country. Italy and Norway both build a lot more commercial vessels than the United States does now. The Jones Act requires all ferries, indeed all commercial vessels traveling between US ports, to be built in America. Trump’s trade war is making batteries, steel, and aluminum much more expensive, while tanking the economy, reducing the revenue available to cities. The combination means another slowdown in climate action.

Canada thankfully doesn’t have the constraint of the Jones Act and BC is getting its big hybrid ferries, which will shift to fully electric when dockside charging infrastructure is finalized, from Dutch firm Damen Shipyards Group, which is building them in Romania. It’s highly likely all of Canada’s ferries will be fully electric long before the USA reaches that milestone, given the comparative situations in the countries.

Driving the global shift to electric ferries are key technology providers and shipbuilders specializing in electric propulsion. Firms such as Incat Tasmania, builders of the landmark China Zorrilla ferry, alongside battery and systems integrators like Corvus Energy, Siemens, ABB, and Wärtsilä, dominate the rapidly growing market. Crucially, the market is quickly pivoting away from early-stage hybrid designs towards fully electric ferries as battery capabilities improve.

Electric ferries are gaining favor not only because of regulatory and environmental considerations but also due to clear operational and economic benefits. China Zorilla’s 5-8 year payback period isn’t an outlier. Electric ferries offer drastically reduced fuel costs, significantly lower maintenance demands, and overall enhanced reliability compared to diesel-powered counterparts. Electric drivetrains remove complex internal combustion components, drastically simplifying vessel maintenance and extending service intervals. Passengers consistently prefer electric ferries for their noticeably quieter operation, smoother acceleration, and absence of diesel exhaust odors — an often overlooked, yet important, market driver.

Despite the clear momentum behind ferry electrification, challenges remain. The upfront investment for charging infrastructure, dockside facilities, and grid upgrades is substantial, presenting logistical and financial barriers, especially in regions lacking sufficient grid capacity. Battery energy density remains a limitation in the short term, creating practical constraints for longer routes, heavy cargo loads, or particularly challenging maritime conditions. As a 2022 Nature paper out of Berkeley Lab noted, however, for the maritime industry it is mostly cost per kWh. Their modeling, which was imperfect but useful, suggested $100 / kWh batteries would lead to economic breakeven on 1,500 km routes, and $50 would see 3,000 km pencil out. Mass and volume were minor tradeoffs, not show-stoppers. Additionally, operators must grapple with supply-chain risks inherent in battery technology, notably those related to geopolitical tensions and resource availability in lithium and other critical minerals.

From an environmental and economic perspective, electric ferries demonstrate overwhelmingly positive lifecycle emissions profiles compared to diesel and hybrid options. Studies consistently confirm that, despite higher upfront investment, electric ferries deliver substantial operational savings that result in comparatively short payback periods. Over a vessel’s lifecycle, electric propulsion is proving to be economically superior, particularly as diesel fuel prices remain volatile and carbon pricing mechanisms increasingly penalize fossil fuel combustion.

Looking ahead, policy and regulation will continue to heavily influence ferry electrification’s pace and scale. Europe and Canada are likely to implement progressively stringent carbon pricing frameworks and emission reduction mandates, ensuring sustained momentum. Maritime operators are increasingly aligning investment strategies with these anticipated regulatory shifts, further reinforcing the inevitability of widespread adoption of electric propulsion.

The long-term outlook for ferry electrification is exceedingly positive, given the sheer number of vessels now under construction or in planning. Retrofits of existing vessels are in most operators’ plans as well. Current growth trajectories suggest a swift ramp-up, with projections indicating electric ferries will become standard practice rather than the exception in most developed markets by the early 2030s. Operators that lag behind this trend face significant strategic risks, including potential operational cost disadvantages, regulatory penalties, and competitive threats from early adopters who reap economic and reputational benefits.

Ferry electrification represents a profound and rapid shift in global maritime transportation, one driven by compelling economic fundamentals, stringent environmental regulation, and undeniable technical advantages. The fact that 70% of ferries now on order incorporate electric drivetrains signals not merely an industry trend but an irreversible transformation. This shift, epitomized by landmark vessels such as the China Zorrilla, is a critical component in the broader maritime sector’s decarbonization journey, offering a clear vision for sustainable, efficient, and economically viable marine transportation in the decades ahead.