ABB Powers Tourists to the Niagara Falls with First US Built All-Electric Vessels
3.5.2019 18:45:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Niagara Falls tour operator Maid of the Mist orders two new passenger vessels sailing on pure electric power, enabled by ABB’s technology
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190503005349/en/
Maid of the Mist new passenger vessels sailing on pure electric power, enabled by ABB's technology (Photo: Business Wire)
Visitors to the iconic Niagara Falls will soon be able to experience one of the US’s top landmarks emission-free. Two new Maid of the Mist passenger vessels will be powered entirely by high-capacity battery packs, becoming the first all-electric vessels ever built in the US.
The new vessels will benefit from ABB’s zero-emission technology when they start operating later this year, allowing guests to experience Niagara Falls undisturbed by engine noise, vibration or exhaust fumes from a conventional diesel engine.
Maid of the Mist, one of North America’s oldest tourist attractions, operates from April through to the first week of November, with boats departing for the base of Niagara Falls every 30 minutes, with an estimated 1.6 million guests on board annually.
“We are thrilled to be the US’s first vessel owner to add all-electric ferries to our fleet,” said Christopher M. Glynn, president of Maid of the Mist Corp. “We have chosen ABB to support us in our journey towards more sustainable operation based on their unparalleled experience in marine system integration, as well as efficient and innovative technologies for sustainable transportation.”
“Maid of the Mist’s decisive move towards e-mobility signals a new era in the future of transportation and complements ABB’s commitment to power the world without consuming the earth,” said Peter Terwiesch, President of the Industrial Automation business at ABB, which offers solutions for a wide range of industries, including marine. “Reducing emissions at Niagara Falls is not only important for the natural landmark, but also proves that the technologies enabling sustainable mobility are already available today.”
Each of the vessels will be powered by a pair of battery packs with a total capacity of 316 kWh, split evenly between two catamaran hulls. Having two fully independent power systems on board will increase the resilience of operations by creating a redundancy.
The vessels will charge between every trip while passengers disembark and board. Shoreside charging will only take seven minutes, allowing the batteries to power the electric propulsion motors capable of a total 400 kW (563 HP) output. The power setup will be controlled by ABB’s integrated Power and Energy Management System (PEMS), which will optimize the energy use on board.
The batteries will be charged using hydropower – the largest single renewable energy source for electricity generation in the US, which accounts for 7 percent of the country’s total utility-scale electricity generation. The use of locally produced renewable power will make the energy cycle for the operation of the new Maid of the Mist vessels entirely emission-free.
Sustainable transportation has a crucial role in the fight against climate change, with shipping accounting for 2 to 3 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency responsible for regulating shipping, has set a global target to cut annual emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 from 2008 levels.
In addition to integrating the ship-to-shore battery charging connection, ABB will supply the Maid of the Mist newbuilding project with switchboards, drives and the integrated control system, as well as the ABB Ability™ Marine Remote Diagnostic System for remote equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance. ABB Ability™ is ABB’s leading offering of digital solutions and services.
To watch the video, click here.
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader with a comprehensive offering for digital industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB is today a leader in digital industries with four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by its common ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB’s market leading Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190503005349/en/
Contact information
ABB Ltd
Affolternstrasse 44
8050 Zurich
Switzerland
Media
Relations
Phone: +41 43 317 71 11
Email: media.relations@ch.abb.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
SES Advances Next-generation MEO Strategy Following Successful Completion of IRIS² Rendez-vous 17.8.2026 11:52:00 EEST | Press release
SES today announced the successful completion of Rendez-vous 1 (RDV1) under the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) programme, marking a key milestone in the programme's implementation phase and reinforcing Europe's path towards sovereign, resilient and secure satellite connectivity. The successful completion of RDV1 confirms the programme's readiness to move forward with implementation and provides greater visibility on the long-term scope, performance and economics of the MEO segment. SES's expected capital commitment for the MEO segment is up to €1.35 billion, reflecting current programme scope, while maintaining the deployment of 18 MEO satellites and the targeted service entry in 2030. SES’s share of the investment in the IRIS² programme for 2026 is included in SES’s FY26 Capex outlook as previously communicated. No future exceptional cash proceeds will be used to fund the project. Since the signing of the IRIS² Concession Contract in
Allianz Delivers Record Result and Is Well on Track to Achieve Its Targets7.8.2026 08:10:00 EEST | Press release
2Q 2026 This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260806509750/en/ Oliver Bäte, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz SE Total business volume at 45.6 billion euros, an internal growth of 5.7 percent1, with contributions from all segments. Asset Management delivers excellent growth. Operating profit rises 10.6 percent to a record level of 4.9 billion euros. Shareholders’ core net income at 2.6 billion euros; 12.7 percent below last year. Adjusted for a divestment gain last year and offsetting measures following the sale of the stake in our Indian JVs, underlying growth is strong at 10 percent. 6M 2026 Total business volume at 98.6 billion euros, an internal growth of 4.3 percent1, driven by Property-Casualty and especially Asset Management. Operating profit rises 8.6 percent and reaches a record level of 9.4 billion euros. Shareholders’ core net income advances 15.5 percent to 6.4 billion euros. Adjusted for divestment eff
Pure Lithium Receives Australian Patent for "Lithium Metal Anode and Battery"6.8.2026 23:49:00 EEST | Press release
Pure Lithium Corporation, a vertically integrated next-generation lithium metal battery technology company, today announced that the Australian patent office has granted the company a patent (AU2025271196) titled “Lithium metal anode and battery.” Australia mines roughly half of the world’s lithium, yet has no domestic battery production at all; every battery the country uses is imported. The granted patent is directed to ways in which Pure Lithium’s technology can change that. Rather than trying to catch up in lithium-ion, Australia can leapfrog the incumbent technology and establish a next-generation industry. As worldwide demand for batteries grows, every country capable of making batteries needs to be making them. That is Pure Lithium’s central goal: opening up markets around the world through battery technology that enables local, independent supply chains, keeping pace with demand and strengthening economies. China controls the lithium-ion battery supply chain and manufactures th
Vercel Appoints Amit Agarwal, Standard Template Labs CEO and former Datadog President, to Board of Directors6.8.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vercel, the agentic infrastructure company, today announced the appointment of Amit Agarwal, former president of Datadog and founder and CEO of Standard Template Labs, an AI-first service management platform, to its board of directors. Agarwal brings 25 years of enterprise software experience and a track record of scaling a product-led company from its earliest days into one of the defining public software companies of the cloud era. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260806738617/en/ Amit Agarwal Agarwal joined Datadog in 2012 as its Chief Product Officer and was named President in 2022, overseeing product, corporate development, and go-to-market functions as the company grew past $2.5 billion in annual revenue. Across 13 years, including Datadog's 2019 IPO and its first years as a public company, Agarwal helped build one of the industry's most studied examples of product-led growth at enterprise scale. He conti
Laserfiche Launches Advanced Enterprise Security to Deliver Multi-Region Disaster Recovery and GovRAMP-Ready Compliance for Highly Regulated Industries6.8.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Laserfiche — the leading SaaS provider of intelligent content management — today announced the launch of Enterprise Security, an advanced suite of security enhancements designed for organizations navigating complex regulatory environments. Enterprise Security addresses GovRAMP and CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) security requirements based on the NIST SP 800-53 framework. For organizations handling privileged citizen, legal or corporate data, these built-in controls streamline audit preparation and fortify defenses. With organizations placing a higher priority on data stewardship and corporate governance, enterprise IT leaders require a security architecture that protects data without slowing down operations. Laserfiche Enterprise Security extends Laserfiche Cloud’s highly resilient infrastructure with multi-region data replication, elevated security controls for privileged accounts, and built-in governance safeguards. “Maintaining data integrity and compliance has always
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom