Electrifying travel on the Thames

Electric ferry beats bridge and tunnel

Meantime Orbit Clipper, which replaces the current ageing diesel-fuelled boat, was five years in development and its introduction means city authorities have cancelled proposals to build a lifting bridge over the river or a submersible tunnel. The long-term plan is for the new ferry to support e-cargo bikes in cross-river deliveries. 

“The ferry is a significant step forward”

According to Tim Beckett, director of maritime consultant Beckett Rankine which designed much of the infrastructure, the entire scheme – vessel, piers and semi-automated docking – will come in at a fraction of the cost of these alternatives, as well as operating more cheaply. Sources tell Marine Propulsion the total price of the project including the vessel, new piers and associated infrastructure is about £15M (US$20M).

Mr Beckett is confident that Orbit Clipper will soon be followed by sister ships: “As the first all-electric ferry service in the UK, the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf crossing will act as a prototype for further services in East London.”

Backed by grants from the government’s Innovate UK fund and London Transport, Orbit Clipper is also intended as a prototype for export. The chief executive of builder Wight Shipyard at East Cowes, Isle of Wight, Toby Mumford, says: “The ferry is a significant step forward for sustainable maritime innovation in the UK but it also highlights the international potential for British-built electric vessels.”

The ferry has been designed to meet IMO’s High Speed Craft Code applying to vessels under 500 tons that has been adopted into UK law. Thames Clippers is a regular customer of Wight Shipyard.  Including Orbit Clipper the shipyard has built seven of Thames Clippers’ 23-strong fleet so far.

For Sean Collins, chief executive and co-founder of Uber Boats by Thames Clippers, the launch is a vindication of his faith in high-speed river bus transport. He and co-founder Alan Woods started out in 1999 with one boat and two employees, ferrying about 80 passengers a day. “Looking out at the river, I was struck by how empty it was,” Mr Collins recalls.  

Until then, the Thames had been something of a graveyard for ferry companies. One of these was Thamesline for which Mr Collins worked as an apprentice waterman. Twenty years later the much-expanded Thames Clippers fleet carried its 50 millionth passenger in a demonstration of how poorly the Thames had long been served by waterborne transport at the time. Thames Clippers’ river buses currently call at 24 piers up and down the great waterway.

Backed by venture capital and public money at different times along the way, Thames Clippers has steadily expanded its fleet. In 2020, Uber bought into the operation and various councils have subsidised the operation to support guaranteed commuter services.

Hybrid trio

Although Orbit Clipper is the company’s first all-electric ferry, three recent additions to the fleet are hybrid-powered, operating on batteries when travelling through central London and recharging under bio-fuelled power during the rest of the journey.

The launch of Orbit Clipper and Woods’ new flagship vessel probably would not have happened without official funding. In early 2022, the UK government earmarked £206M (US$277M) for a new venture called UK Shore that is run by the Department of Transport and is dedicated to projects that decarbonise shipping. 

As Robin Mortimer, chief executive of the Ports of London Authority, explained in June, the Thames is an immediate beneficiary: “With 95 miles of river under our care, we are working to deliver a net-zero port by 2040.” That is why money is being pumped into electric and hybrid vessels, pilot-charging infrastructure, and new fuel technologies. 

So far, one of the programmes, known as the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, has allocated £60M (US$81M) to 19 projects of various forms across Britain, one of which is Orbit Clipper.

Although it is Swedish, AquasuperPower is also part of a UK government-funded project that is exploring “bi-directional boat charging”, otherwise known as virtual bunkering. Currently being introduced for EVs, bi-directional charging essentially swaps energy. “The core benefit of the bi-directional charging capability is its ability to access and store greener energy for later use”, explains the Swedish group, which is currently installing its technology all over Europe and the UK.

Clearly, Orbit Clipper is intended as a pioneer for similar projects within the consortium that created it.

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