All car ferries will be electric by 2025

Photo: Halvard Alvik, NTB scanpix

The government wants to end the use of diesel fuel ferries. By 2025, all car ferries will be electric, and several ferry companies are well on their way to achieving the goal.

Before Easter, the Government will present an action plan for green shipping, where ferries and boats are also mentioned.

“It is an objective to electrify the entire ferry sector by 2025” said State Secretary, Atle Hamar of Venstre (V) at the Ministry of Climate and Environment to NRK news.

In total, there are 130 ferry connections in Norway, with a total of about 200 ferries, according to NRK.

“Our overview shows that by the end of 2021, more than 70 ferries will have batteries installed” said department director, Edvard Sandvik, of the Public Roads Administration.

The large shipping companies are now investing billions of kroner to make their ferries more environmentally friendly.

Fjord1 has eight hybrid ferries today, two of which are fully electric.

“During a two-year period, we will have a total of 32 electric ferries in operation.

27 of these will be newly built ferries and five remodeled” said Operations Director,André Høyset of Fjord 1.

Norled will also invest in new ferries. In 2015, they launched the world’s first fully electric ferry, MF Ampere, and now they have eight electric ferries. In addition, there will be 18 new battery-powered ferries available over the years to come.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today