Technical problems with charging leave passengers high and dry
The ‘wonder of electrification’ has definitely dimmed for Transtejo Soflusa, the state-backed ferry company that so proudly purchased ten electric ferries two years ago, only to find the deal did not include batteries.
Since then, it has been pretty much downhill all the way.
Batteries, of course, have been sourced – but they didn’t arrive without their own ‘compatibility issues’ and these have been causing stress at the central charging point.
So much stress, in fact, that Transtejo Soflusa readily admits that “the investment in electric boats is not going as planned”.
It was a huge investment, too (more than €96.6 million all told, says Correio da Manhã, with the company having to fund €11.5 million itself, the rest coming from outside/ EU funding).
But the reality is that passenger complaints have skyrocketed with these new ferries as many of them find themselves on the wrong side of the river at rush-hour, while ferries sedately take in their electric charge (or don’t).
According to a recent story in Correio da Manhã, the company assures that a solution to the charging system, such as it is, “is being found”.
The problem with this assurance is that it was given back in November last year – and then the ‘deadline’ given for the solution was ‘the end of the year’.
