Barcelona loves new quiet, zero emission 84 passenger electric ferry

The air and water are getting cleaner in yet another city as Barcelona launches the Ecocat Tres electric ferry that will carry passengers from the popular Las Ramblas district to the almost as popular Barceloneta Beach.

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While electric hydrofoiling ferries and water taxis from companies like Candela, Artemis Technologies and Vessev are making lots of headlines for new services in Stockholm, Seattle and  Wellington, New Zealand, there are also thousands of routes in other cities all over the world that can benefit from electrifying traditional displacement hull boats.

In our most recent WaVeS #26 round-up of electric boat news we highlighted how electric displacement ferries are coming to Germany and the city of Toronto, Canada. In a related item, the city of Amsterdam has now banned fossil fuel leisure boats from its canals as of April 1.

Read more about electric ferries in WaVeS #26 – March 23, 2025

The Ecocat Tres is an interesting electric ferry case because it uses the low voltage safe-to-touch propulsion system of Molabo. That is the only company in the world that makes a 50 kiloWatt (65 hp) electric motor that runs on 48 volts. Every other system requires 96 volts or more for that level of power.

Low voltage safe-to-touch system

Why that matters is because anything above 48 volts requires special safety training for the people who install or service the motor. Molabo’s breakthrough patented technology is called ‘ISCAD’ (Intelligent Stator Cage Drive). Instead of the copper windings found in traditional motors, Molabo uses rods to form the stator cage – the stator being the stationary part of an electric motor.

The Ecocat Tres has twin Molabo ARIES 50 kW inboard drives in a system assembled by Azimut Marine. It incorporates 36 batteries with 216 kiloWatthours of total capacity, fast chargers, and solar panels that provide up to 40% of the electric ferry’s total energy usage.

While the passengers don’t particularly notice the system, what they do notice is that their ride is almost completely silent, has next to zero vibrations compared to boats with rumbling diesel engines, and no smoke. Absolutely zero emissions of noxious fumes, odours and carbon.

This new service is part of Bus Nàutic, an initiative backed by Port de Barcelona and operated by ALSA, a private company best known for a fleet of over 6,200 buses and a network of other transportation options covering all of Spain.

Operates for at least 12 hours each day

The 15-meter (50 foot) aluminum catamaran was designed by Naval Architecture Marine Engineering and built by the Metaltec Naval shipyard in northern Spain’s Cantabria district. It has seating on the main deck and also on the rooftop so passengers can enjoy the views of Barcelona. 

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