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Just over a year ago, the world’s first commercial hydrogen ferry officially set sail in the San Francisco Bay, offering a clean, quiet rebuttal to the noisy, polluting ferries that many coastal cities depend on.
Now, the vessel’s owner is working to build a bigger, faster version in New York.
Switch Maritime was recently awarded $2 million from New York state to develop a 150-passenger ferry powered by hydrogen fuel cells — a technology that doesn’t directly emit carbon dioxide or toxic air pollution, just a little heat and water vapor. The company says it aims to launch the vessel around early 2028 in New York City waterways as part of a 12-month demonstration period, before potentially transitioning to longer-term service.
“Ferry operators have aging fleets that need to be replaced,” said Pace Ralli, CEO and cofounder of Switch. “We’re trying to give these operators a viable alternative to rebuilding and renewing their fleet with diesel.”
More than 600 ferries ply the country’s waterways. The vast majority of them still burn diesel fuel, leaving smoggy trails of planet-warming gases and health-harming pollutants in their wake.
Some of the nation’s biggest ferry operators — including those in New York City, San Francisco, and Washington state — are starting to test and deploy cleaner marine technologies to meet their climate goals and improve air quality in waterfront communities.
Last month, New York City launched a $33 million hybrid-electric ferry that uses batteries and diesel generators. A handful of other hybrid and fully battery-powered vessels are operating or under construction nationwide, and hundreds more have hit the water in China and Europe.
For now, Switch’s San Francisco ferry is the only fully hydrogen-powered vessel in the U.S.
The boat, called Sea Change, launched in July 2024 after more than six years in development. The 75-passenger ferry includes 360 kilowatts of fuel cells, a 600-kW electric propulsion system, lithium-ion batteries, and 10 tanks that can store a total of 246 kilograms of hydrogen. The vessel uses the most readily available type of hydrogen — the kind produced using fossil gas — which is sourced from existing automotive fueling stations in the San Francisco area.
The New York ferry will be twice the size and operate twice as fast as Sea Change, said Seamus Nolan, Switch’s director of commercial and government affairs. He said the $2 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will help fund the company’s initial work to develop the larger vessel and cover some operational costs during the yearlong demonstration period.
Just as crucial as launching the ferry will be establishing a hydrogen supply chain for this specific project, given that no such networks exist today in the U.S. maritime industry. Nolan said that Switch has identified three potential suppliers of green hydrogen — made from renewable energy sources — that could initially serve the new vessel’s operations, though future supplies could include hydrogen made from nuclear or methane pyrolysis as those production methods scale.
A lack of cheap, clean hydrogen remains one of the biggest barriers to taking fuel-cell ferries mainstream. It’s also a key reason why ferry operators are primarily turning to battery-powered boats to begin greening their fleets. Hydrogen fuel is substantially more expensive to make and transport than diesel fuel, and producers remain reluctant to ramp up supplies — and thus drive down prices — given the uncertainty around customer demand.
This was already true under the Biden administration. Now the second Trump administration is moving to scrap federal policies meant to accelerate production of clean hydrogen, including by potentially canceling awards for four projects under the $7 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program. The budget law passed by congressional Republicans in July also hastens the phaseout of the 45V tax credit for clean hydrogen production.
“If done safely, green hydrogen is a viable alternative fuel for maritime … but there’s a lot of concerns around, how do we scale up green hydrogen production so that it’s affordable for maritime use and that there’s enough supply?” said Teresa Bui, senior climate campaign director at the nonprofit group Pacific Environment.
During the Sea Change trial in San Francisco, the vessel experienced “minor disruptions due to fuel sourcing at times,” though routine maintenance work and occasional mechanical issues were bigger causes of interrupted service, said Thomas Hall, director of operations and customer experience for San Francisco Bay Ferry, which ran the hydrogen ferry during the demonstration period.
From July 2024 to January 2025, Sea Change zipped along a short tourist route between the historic Ferry Building and Fisherman’s Wharf. The temporary pilot service was sponsored by a group of private partners, including Chevron New Energies, United Airlines, and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District.
Hall said the ferry operator is evaluating the demonstration’s results, which will help inform its longer-term plans. The Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which oversees San Francisco Bay Ferry, has secured more than $150 million in local, state, and federal funding to deploy zero-emissions vessels. Plans are well underway to build three small battery-electric ferries and two large battery ferries for the service. Hall said that, down the road, hydrogen ferries could potentially operate on routes that cover longer distances or for extended periods of time.
“Being part of a first-in-the-world, groundbreaking project is something we value a lot here in the Bay Area,” Hall said. “It was a huge achievement that will make future implementations easier.”
Since the pilot ended earlier this year, Switch and its vessel operator partner Blue & Gold Fleet have been running tests to see how Sea Change performs on critical commuter routes in the San Francisco Bay Area. The plan is to bring the vessel back into passenger service in the coming months, either in San Francisco or in a new city that is looking to test the technology.
“Sea Change is one proof-of-concept to show that it can be done, that it can be operated commercially,” Nolan said of the hydrogen fuel-cell ferry. The New York demonstration will be Switch’s chance to prove the technology can operate at twice the scale.
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