Travel Norway’s Fjords on a Quiet Electric Self-Driving Boat | How We Move

Hop on a ferry in Norway and it’s increasingly likely that the rumble of a diesel engine will have been replaced by the quiet hum of an electric motor.

The Scandinavian nation, already a leader in electric cars, has in recent years been churning out zero-emissions vessels that could one day be used all over the world. Right now the ships mostly ply key domestic routes, especially in the mountainous west coast where ferries are an essential piece of the transportation network.

But they’ve already made Norway the most electrified shipping nation in the world, thanks to an aggressive government push to cut maritime emissions. The country is home to almost three-quarters of the 274 vessels globally that run at least partly on batteries, according to a state advisory body. Its fleet of 31 fully-electric car ferries is expected to nearly double by the end of the year, says the Green Shipping Programme, a public-private partnership that supports the transition. Even the sightseeing ferries that cruise Norway’s famous fjords are transitioning to battery power.

On a Saturday morning in Stavanger, along Norway’s west coast, a new ferry, the Rygerelektra, is in the harbor preparing for a tour of some nearby fjords. Measuring 42 meters long with seating capacity of nearly 300, the ferry, is owned and operated by Rødne Fjord Cruises. It is among a group of vessels from several of Norway’s leading maritime companies that are driving a shift towards zero-emissions fleet and supporting Norway’s ambitious economic reinvention away from oil and gas to alternative energy source.

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