Bay Ship and Yacht Co. (Alameda, CA, US) has won a contract to build the first hydrogen fuel cell passenger vessel in the US for Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine (GGZEM, Alameda, CA, US). The vessel is expected to be delivered and in service by September 2019.
Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine awarded a $3 million grant by the California Air Resources Board (CARB, Sacramento, CA, US) to build the vessel. The zero-emission vessel will be the first of its kind in the US.
The vessel, named Water-Go-Round, is powered by dual 300 kW electric motors using independent electric drivetrains from BAE Systems (Farnborough, UK). Power is generated by 360 kW of Hydrogenics (Mississauga, Canada) proton exchange membrane fuel cells and Lithium-ion battery packs. Hydrogen tanks from Hexagon Composites (Alesund, Norway), with valves and hardware from OMB-Saleri (Brescia, Italy), are installed on the upper deck, and contain enough hydrogen to go up to two days between refueling.
