The Electric Chi Cheemaun, coming soon?

In prior posts we discussed battery requirements and charging. The larger battery, slower charging option appears entirely feasible, we might even manage to retrofit the existing Chi-Cheemaun ferry, offering the greenest way to get from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island. Lets conclude our three post series with some practical considerations and dive into the economics of making the Chi-Cheemaun one big-green canoe. If Diesel stays close to $2/l, an electric renovation actually makes economic sense.

We begin with some economics. As discussed, the Chi Cheemaun burned through about $1.4 M worth of Diesel in 2019 (source). Assuming wholesale electricity prices of $20 per MWh, and as discussed, 4 MWh per crossing (source), the equivalent electricity bill would have been $80 k. So were saving perhaps $ 1.3 M per year in fuel expenses alone. As electric motors have few moving parts, maintenance is likely less than Diesel. EV owners enjoy perhaps a 30% reduction in overall maintenance costs (source). Across the Owen Sounds transportation companies three ferries (Chi-Cheemaun being the biggest by far), maintenance came to about $2.2 M in 2019 (source). Assuming say $1.5 M of that is allocated for the Chi-Cheemaun, and using the 30% maintenance discount for going electric, we get estimated annual maintenance savings of $0.5M per year, thus going electric, might save approximately $1.8M per year. If we were to use that as our chief “return-on-investment” metric, and a payback period of 10 years, we could perhaps justify a $18 M electrification budget, corresponding to a return on investment through fuel and maintenance savings in perhaps 10-20 years.

Would $18M be enough to electrify the Chi-Cheemaun? Battery costs would be perhaps $9 M from our earlier post. A recent summary for car’s suggests a tripling of that to factor in other drive chain parts, not to mention the labor involved (source), leaving us with a renovation bill of perhaps $27 M which we round up to $30 M, so not quite it seems. But is Diesel really $1/liter? Well, lately its been closer to $2, at that price our 10 year fuel and maintenance savings are actually $ 33M and now all of a sudden, our conversion makes economic sense.

That $30 M renovation budget, might actually almost pay for a new ferry. Herjolfur (which is slightly smaller) apparently cost the Icelandic government $40 M (source). The Ampere (which is much smaller), cost the Norwegian government about $11 M (source). Much has indeed changed since the late seventies when the Chi-Cheemaun entered service, a new ferry could potentially offer many other benefits. Electronic stability control ( source), azipods (source) and many more technologies have revolutionized shipping since the late seventies, and might bring many additional benefits. If nothing else, one should question if the Chi-Cheemaun is the right sized ferry to serve the community. Chances are its either too small or too big, as both Manitoulin and Tobermory have changed a lot since the seventies.

We should note that its unrealistic to move entirely away from Diesel. From time to time, the Chi Cheemaun might need to go further a field. For example, the Chi Cheemaun recently had some service done in Thunder bay Ontario (see source), it might be better for all concerned to burn a little diesel for these long voyages instead of adding sufficient charging infrastructure along the way. Hence I feel there ought to be at least an allowance for some temporary Diesel generators when long voyages are needed. Since, these longer voyages might be positional trips operated without passengers and their cars, it might make sense to install temporary Diesel generator on the car deck for longer journeys.

The Chi-Cheemaun is getting old, thus a $30 M renovation makes little sense, as you might get a new ferry for a little more. While $30 M is a lot of money, compared to alternatives say more highway lines along Hwy 400, its dirt cheap. Adding a fourth lane each way to Hwy 400, is estimated to cost $90 M for only 10 km (source). Last I checked, the distance between Toronto and Manitoulin along Hwy 400 is quite a bit longer than the 3 km our $30M new ferry budget would cover. A new Chi-Cheemaun makes more sense to me than a few extra kilometers of highway lanes. To say nothing of the carbon emissions of highway improvements, both during construction and afterwards.