On Friday, July 19th, at Gate F of the San Francisco Ferry Terminal, a new hydrogen-powered ferryboat was having its public debut.
There had been a few online articles about the event so I was afraid there would be hundreds of people in line for a free boat ride, but there were only about a dozen of us waiting at 11:00 AM.
The big news is that a new company, SWITCH Maritime, is testing out a prototype 75-person ferryboat called
Sea Change that runs on hydrogen fuel cell electricity.
Their website describes the project: "Founded in 2018, SWITCH Maritime has been working over 5 years to build the first hydrogen fuel cell electric vessel in the U.S., combined with the first maritime hydrogen fuel supply chain."
This would mean the end of diesel fumes spilling into the San Francisco Bay's air and water from an increasingly large fleet of ferryboats.
The six-month trial run is offering boat rides between the Ferry Building and Pier 41 in Fishermans Wharf.
It's a gorgeous little ride that lasts about 20 minutes each way.
SWITCH Maritime has partnered up with
San Francisco Bay Ferry, which runs the ferry fleet servicing the East Bay to San Francisco, and their employees looked like they were having a great time on the boat.
The docking at the small Pier 41 just past the Pier 39 sea lions looked a bit tricky...
...but the captain seemed to be having a good time too.
From what I can gather from the
San Francisco Bay Ferry website, the free boat ride was soon overwhelmed last week and they are now charging $1 for a trip each way.
And be sure to get back in line if you're making a return trip.
The service is only running Friday through Sunday, and you can
click here for the schedule. Checking the website tonight, it seems there have already been some mechanical problems so the boat is out of commission this weekend the 27th-28th. I guess that's what prototypes are for.
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