All Things Electric: Ferries, Buses, Cars. It’s Happening; Now.
Rebecca Solnit has been writing and studying the transition to renewables for many years. In a 30 July 2025 article in the Guardian newspaper she writes “An energy revolution is underway in this century, though most people have not noticed it.” Yet. “But the majority of climate change comes from burning fossil fuels, and we know exactly how to transition away from that, and the transition is underway – not nearly fast enough.”
She goes on to state, “But still, it is underway. And, arguably, unstoppable. Because it’s just a better way to do everything.”
Entrepreneurs, corporations and governments [but not the U. S. government] are using, primarily, new solar and wind installations to power change. And change is happening.
Texas just happens to be a solar giant [wind as well]. Although known as the center for fossil fuels TX has over 43.5 gigawatts [GW] of solar installed. The photo here of a recent 408-megawatt [MW] large solar array is from Primergy of their Ash Creek Solar Project in Hill County, TX.
Besides these large arrays, we also have Community Solar installations. These are usually much smaller sized arrays, on a small number of acres, and the electricity produced goes into the local utility grid. See the horizontal bar chart titled “Community Solar Leaderboard.” In terms of total capacity, New York is a leader. The horizontal axis is in megawatts AC [alternating current] with NY at about 2, 500 megawatts.
Let ’s look at some novel areas where some of this renewable energy is going.
Berlin, Germany and Stockholm, Sweden as well as NYC, all have aggressive renewable energy projects. These cities are also some of the many places with a lot of water but with water transport mostly using fossil fuels. Candela is a Swedish company that “began producing the world’s first electric hydrofoil leisure boat in 2019. ”As they expanded their offerings and ferry sizes, in 2023 they launched their P-12 Shuttle ferry.
See photo of Shuttle ferry provided by Candela. Their website has an excellent video as well.
“ It is the fastest and longest-range electric hydrofoil ship ever built” per Candela with a range of some 4 5 miles and a speed of in excess of 25 mph.
Next, let’stalk about electric buses. According to an article earlier this year in CleanTechnica, electric buses are “transforming Europe’s public transportation system faster than many policymakers expected. In 2024, nearly half of all new city buses sold in the European Union were battery electric. ”
As Europe rapidly moves away from diesel and hybrids, they are seeing cost savings and environmental benefits. They contribute to quieter streets, cleaner air along with a major reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases [GHG].
The use of hydrogen fueled buses was once considered a viable competitor to electric powered buses. But recent studies, and experiences, in France and Italy have shown that the battery-electric buses have operating costs that are a fraction of hydrogen powered buses.
“ Beyond cost, efficiency is another major fact or contributing to the success of electric buses over hydrogen models. Battery-electric buses make direct use of electricity, while hydrogen requires a multi -step process involving production, storage, transportation, and then conversion back into electricity ” with enormous energy losses. [CleanTechnica, March 2025].
The Little Rock School District [LRSD] in Arkansas has recently taken possession of 25 state-of-the-art electric -powered school buses with the help of a grant from the U. S. EPA. See photo of this bus provided by LRSD. This bus fleet will help improve student and community health along with significantly reducing operating costs.
These were manufactured by Blue Bird, the only U. S. owned and operated school bus manufacturer in the U. S. Over 2, 500 electric school buses are in operation today.
Now, let’stalk about electric battery-operated cars ; and we must talk about China’s cars first, since that country is the undisputed leader in EV [electric vehicle] and battery technology. And let’snot forget cost. They have the cheapest products on the market today.
The Chinese government has subsidized research and development in all aspects of its automotive industry, both EV and traditional gasoline cars ; from battery components and chemistry, robotic assembly and manufacture, software, efficiency and the whole supply chain of components. And it has paid off. There are currently 97 Chinese domestic car brands in China now and 43 joint ventures.
It was reported in Wikipedia that in 2024 China had sold 12. 87 million passenger electric vehicles. NIO is one Chinese car company and their sales in August 2025 were up 55% compared with August 2024: and the NIO ET7 has a range of 600 miles on a charge! See photo of some ET7 cars lined up. The cost is about $69, 000 with the large battery pack.
Then we have the 2026 XPENG P 7 EV with a 500-mile range and a price of ~ $35, 000. The whole market for Chinese EV’s in the U. S. and the EU is in flux with tariffs, quotas and other surcharges in play. Suffice it to say that the rest of the car companies in the world are nervous about the power of the Chinese car industry and the implications to their futures.
These 2 models are not allowed into the U. S. yet. Stay tuned to see how this story will play out in the near future.
And then we have some Flotsam and Jetsam, or This and That:
*Renewable energy generation met 65% of Germany’s needs in 1 st half 2024. [ise. fraunho fer. de/en/press / 2024].
*In October 2024 the UK shut down its last coal -fired power plant. In 2023 coal contributed just 1% to the UK’s power supply down from 39% in 2012. [independent. co. uk/climate-change]
*The U. S. endured 15-billion-dollar weather disasters in 1 st half 2025.[Climate Connections, July 16, 2025].
*Ireland ends coal power generation at Moneypoint. [Carbon Brief 6/15/2025].
*Major article: ” As U. S. Banks on Fossil Fuels, China Pulls Away in Green Energy[page 1, NYTimes 7/5/2025].
And so it goes.
The scientific career of Raymond N. Johnson, Ph.D., spanned 30 years in research and development as an organic/analytical chemist. He is currently founder and director of the Institute of Climate Studies USA (www.ICSUSA.org). Climate Science is published monthly.