A new all-electric, zero-emissions ferry arrived in San Francisco by tug boat from Washington state on Sunday afternoon. Considered the first commercial maritime vessel in the United States powered entirely by hydrogen fuel cell technology, it will begin taking passengers on rides along the San Francisco waterfront in late spring.

Developed with $3 million in state funding, the 75-passenger catamaran called the Sea Change is the part of a push by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which operates ferry service in a large part of the bay, to eventually phase out diesel ferries, which produce black puffs of noxious pollutants as they chug through the water.

The agency also plans to roll out battery-electric ferries soon (in a separate program, the Angel Island Ferry Co. plans to electrify its ferry between Tiburon and the island next year). The fuel cell electric ferry is a pilot project meant to demonstrate another zero-emissions alternative for passenger ferries and the larger shipping industry, which at almost 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, has a bigger carbon footprint than air transportation.

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