Washington State Ferries are going electric. WSDOT just opened nationwide bidding to build them.
The five new boats will save 240 million gallons of diesel and over 8 million tons of carbon emissions in the long run, WSDOT said. Currently, the ferry system emits more greenhouse gasses than any other state agency. It鈥檚 far easier for ferries to go electric than other transportation systems, according to Darrin Magee, director of Western Washington University鈥檚 Institute for Energy Studies.