We keep hearing how “the future is electric” in the auto industry and beyond. There are all kinds of big media stories out this week about electric airplanes and so on, but everyone’s staying pretty mum about the mishap with an electric ferry in New Zealand recently. That’s right, an all-electric ferry ran out of juice, stranding the people and cars on it in the middle of the harbor.
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This is like something out of a comedy sketch, unfortunately we’re living in this reality. Supposedly, battery-electric powertrains are perfect for these kinds of monotonous, planned routes where a vehicle doesn’t have to go any further than planned. Yet somehow this ferry drained its batteries and a police boat had to go out to rescue everyone.
Luckily, there weren’t so many people onboard, otherwise it probably would’ve required multiple trips or more boats to ferry everyone to shore. Can you imagine if this were to happen with an all-electric ship out in the open ocean? While you can of course run out of gas or diesel in a traditional boat, how many times have you heard of a ferry in a harbor running out of fuel, stranding everyone?
Thanks to this embarrassing incident in the capital of New Zealand while the government pushes EVs big time, the police boat had to return to help tug the powerless ferry to port. Fortunately, it hadn’t drifted off as the captain was able to drop anchor in a safe spot. This could have turned out far worse.
Again, we know gas- and diesel-powered boats suffer failures and need to be rescued. What’s most interesting about this incident isn’t that the ferry ran out of battery power but that the media there isn’t reporting why. Did someone forget to plug the ferry in? Was its range cut drastically because it was an extra cold day (it is early spring there, after all)? The fact the cause wasn’t explained raises our suspicions more, but it looks like we won’t get an answer anytime soon.
Source and photo: nzherald.co.nz
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