Sparky, the world’s first full-sized, 100% electric tugboat!

31/08/2022

Tāmaki Makaurau recently welcomed Sparky to the family, the world’s first full-sized, fully electric tugboat.

Ports of Auckland signed a contract with Damen Shipyards, a Dutch maritime manufacturer, back in 2019, to purchase a 100% electric full-sized ship handling tugboat. The bright green machine has the same bollard pull (70 tonnes) as the Ports of Auckland’s strongest diesel tugboat and will save 465 tonnes of diesel CO2 emissions per year, that’s the equivalent of taking 132 cars off the road! Plus, it costs a third of the price of a diesel tug, to run.

An innovation which represents a future where zero-emission ship handling is possible, pathing the way for a greener New Zealand.

A while back, Ports of Auckland invited the public to pick a name for the e-tug. There were over 3,000 suggestions, including ‘Tuggy McTugface’, ‘Electric Disco Biscuit’, ‘The Fighting Queen of Covid’, ‘Doug’, and of course ‘Ashley Bloomfield'. The four finalists were:

Ārahi – meaning to lead, escort, conduct, drive
E.T. – short for 'Electric Tug'
Hiko - meaning electrical, power, electronic, electric, lightning
Sparky – 'spark', slang for an electrician, related to electricity, but also sparking change.

Sparky has 80 battery racks, holding 2240 batteries, and totaling 2784kWh of power. The e-tug is expected to do four shipping moves on one charge, with a full recharge time of about two hours. She also holds two 1000kW generators, in cases of emergencies.

Say goodbye to the smoke and noise of traditional tugs because Sparky is clean and quiet; the only thing you will hear is the air-con running or the captain humming.

We were lucky enough to get up close and personal with Sparky, sending EV extraordinaire Gav to check it all out. Watch the full video on our YouTube channel here.

Sparky has also been named one of TIME magazine's top inventions for 2022. Read more here.