News / Transport
Bristol’s ‘white elephant’ boat relaunched
Commissioned in a blaze of glory, Hydrogenesis was believed to be the first commercial fuel cell boat in the UK.
It was ordered by Bristol City Council in 2010 at a cost of £225,000 as part of its successful bid to win Green Capital status, but ran as a ferry for just six months.
The boat is now operated solely by Bristol Packet and has just been relaunched as a private hire passenger vessel, after a refit in the city docks.
is needed now More than ever
Owner Luke Dunstan says he is “confident they can keep running the boat and make enough money from it to operate it and use it as a demonstration boat”.
Dubbed a “white elephant” by Conservative councillors, the 12-seater passenger ferry was designed and built by Bristol Hydrogen Boats, a consortium of ferry operators (including Bristol Packet) and Auriga Energy.
It ran for six month in 2013 but the project stalled over the cost of fuel, and the boat was left moored and languishing near the ss Great Britain.
In 2014 Richard Rankin from Hydrogen Boats told BBC Bristol that Hydrogenesis would have been viable if there was a hydrogen station in place, adding that it cost them £59,000 to rent a filling station for six months.
Responding to the criticism about the Hydrogenesis project, mayor George Ferguson told the Bristol Post in September 2014 that he agreed that the project was “poor value”.
“I would never have entered into such an arrangement – a highly expensive publicly funded experiment with a disappointingly brief life,” he said.
The boat was used briefly during Green Capital year, but now all the bookings and operations will be handled by Bristol Packet.
Dunstan believe Hydrogenesis still offers an “innovative way to travel through water”.
“It’s very quite, it goes through water beautifully and the only thing to come out of the engine is water,” he said.
“Brunel’s ss Great Britain was a great innovation and Hydrogenesis shows Bristol is still at the forefront of innovative projects.”
