SSA policy a wrinkle in electric car transition 

A Coast Guard advisory warns against allowing damaged electric vehicles to ride Steamship boats. 

0
Katherine Wilson no longer plans to buy an electric vehicle after her lease on the Volkswagen ID.4 is done. —Courtesy Katherine Wilson

Driving home from a birthday party that her children were invited to in November, Katherine Wilson struck a deer near Whippoorwill Farm in West Tisbury. 

“I’ve lived on the Island my whole life, and I never hit a deer, so I was kind of in shock,” she said. 

Nobody was hurt, and the deer galloped across Old County Road back into the wilderness. But Wilson clipped the deer’s hind while trying to avoid the animal, sustaining exterior damage to the front driver’s side of the Volkswagen ID.4 she was leasing from Tracy Volkswagen in Hyannis. 

Wilson planned to take the car to an auto body shop in Hyannis used by the Volkswagen dealer, but an unexpected snag kept her from taking the car off-Island to be repaired: The Steamship Authority blocked her from boarding with a damaged electric vehicle.

“I’m a mom with two young kids. I never leave the Island, and I thought he was playing a joke on me,” she said.

The reason: The Steamship, on guidance from the U.S. Coast Guard and out of a fear of potential fires, has a policy against transporting damaged electric cars.

For Wilson, who has been trying to do away completely with fossil fuels, the Steamship policy adds a new wrinkle, and not an easy one to overcome for her. 

“It’s sort of crushing,” Wilson said. “We just got solar panels at the house; we have the electric plug-in station in the driveway. I’m ready to go electric … but now that I know this about the Steamship Authority, I am not going to go all-electric.”

The Volkswagen ID.4 experienced exterior damage after hitting a deer. —Courtesy Katherine Wilson
A side view of the Volkswagen ID.4 exterior damage after hitting a deer. —Courtesy Katherine Wilson

Wilson said it doesn’t seem many people are aware of the policy, and she has been telling as many people as she can. The policy employed by the ferry line has made some Vineyarders hesitant to buy an electric vehicle, when the Island, and much of the country, is looking to transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. 

The policy is one of several challenges in the Island’s transition to cleaner energy, including national issues like overcoming a common fear of running out of battery life — often called “charging anxiety” — and high costs for electric cars. Martha’s Vineyard has a goal of being powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2040

For leaders in the movement to transition to an electric future on the Island, it’s a speedbump. 

“I think it is possible it will deter some people,” said Kate Warner, Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s regional energy planner. She has been instrumental in pushing the Island’s climate goals. “But … we’re in changing times.”

The Steamship Authority issued a memorandum in February 2023 preventing damaged electric vehicles from boarding their ferries. The policy reads, “Marine Operations is requesting that any electric vehicles with damaged batteries not be loaded onto SSA vessels. Vehicles damaged from an accident can also damage the battery. If Captains or Agents think an electric vehicle’s battery is compromised, avoid loading the vehicle. Also, electric vehicles with damaged batteries from an accident that are being towed or on a flatbed are not allowed on SSA vessels.”

The decision stemmed from an advisory issued by the U.S. Coast Guard in January 2023, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. The advisory states that first responders “encountered numerous vehicle fires involving electronic vehicles (EVs) that are powered by lithium-ion batteries.” Investigations revealed the vehicle fires resulted from the batteries’ exposure to saltwater. 

“Saltwater exposure can significantly degrade lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, causing a chemical reaction that creates an extreme fire,” the advisory reads. 

This degradation leads to thermal runaway, which EV Firesafe, an electric vehicle research and consultation organization funded by the Australian government, states “occurs when a battery cell short-circuits and starts to heat up uncontrollably.” 

The organization states fires from lithium-ion battery-powered electric vehicles are “very rare,” and there have been 511 incidents globally since 2010. 

EV Firesafe notes while it’s safe to drive an electric car through heavy rain and puddles, electric vehicles that have been submerged in water — particularly saltwater — for hours or days can have a higher risk of the battery short-circuiting and catching fire. 

Steamship officials told The Times any changes to the ferry line’s practices would depend on the Coast Guard. 

“Everything is based on the Coast Guard guidance,” Sean Driscoll, Steamship Authority communications director, said. “The memo and the guidance is specific to damaged batteries, not cosmetic damage.”

Whether there is room for more flexibility is unclear; the Coast Guard did not respond to a request for comment. 

Most all-electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. And while fires sparked by electric vehicle batteries are not incidents Vineyard first responders have to worry about, compared with some parts of the country, Tisbury Fire Chief Patrick Rolston said, “it’s something we contemplate.” 

Meanwhile, Wilson told The Times she was able to schedule her vehicle to be repaired later this month at Angel’s Auto Body in Tisbury, where she learned other customers have had similar experiences with the Steamship Authority. 

Some Islanders have even hired barge crews to take damaged electric vehicles off-Island. 

Ralph Packer, who owns the Tisbury Marine Terminal, said the Tisbury Towing and Transportation Co. has an agreement with the Steamship Authority to transport materials the ferries can’t, like damaged electric vehicles. The Packers are also looking to expand their terminal to augment commercial transportation between Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford. 

“The Island is still growing,” Packer said. 

Wilson still has around 18 months remaining on her Volkswagen lease, and she doesn’t plan to buy an electric vehicle after the contract term finishes, which she originally had hoped to do. 

The “final straw” for Wilson was the thought of being stuck off-Island because of something like a fender-bender. 

“I’ve never had a car accident before, knock on wood,” Wilson said. “On the Island, you want to be able to come and go freely.”

She also notes there is some subjectivity to the Steamship current guidelines. It’s up to captains and terminal staff to decide if a vehicle is too damaged to travel. Wilson was able to take the same car to Hyannis on an SSA ferry for repairs after someone rear-ended her husband at the Oak Bluffs rotary in late 2023. 

“I don’t know if that’s because they didn’t see it because it was in the back of the car, or if it was because they didn’t have these strict rules yet,” Wilson said.

Tara Ledden, a Tisbury resident who installed an electric vehicle charger in her new garage, shared Wilson’s concerns. She said that she’s “definitely holding off for a year or two” before deciding whether to buy an electric vehicle, considering the Steamship policy. 

“With the Island being such a climate-conscious place, we need to find a solution,” Ledden said. “We already spend so much living here. Is insurance going to cover a barge?”

Getting more Vineyarders to drive electric or hybrid vehicles is a part of the Island’s efforts to move away from fossil fuels.

However, the Massachusetts Vehicle Census shows that as of this month, just under 4 percent of the more than 27,000 vehicles registered on Martha’s Vineyard are electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. 

Several Vineyard municipal organizations, like school districts and police departments, have been making efforts to acquire electric vehicles. 

The Vineyard Transit Authority uses electric buses in its fleet, and Angie Gompert, the transportation service’s administrator, said there are times when batteries need to be sent back to the manufacturer, BYD, if there’s a problem. BYD’s electric buses use lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which Gompert said was “more attractive,” since it was safer than lithium-ion batteries, although it sacrifices driving range. 

Gompert said the transit authority has also used a barge to tow one of its electric buses to an auto body shop in Randolph after an accident. 

“It’s a fairly complicated issue, because a vehicle could have exterior damage and not have any damage to the battery at all,” Gompert said. 

Warner said the “restrictive” vessel policy was problematic, since there aren’t auto repair shops on the Vineyard that work on electric vehicle batteries. Still, she notes that the number of electric vehicles affected by compromised batteries was low. 

While the vessel policy may deter some people from buying electric vehicles, she does not think it will hinder the Island’s overall climate goals. She underscored that the world was experiencing “growing pains” and a “paradigm shift” to transition toward electrification in a “race against climate change.” 

“It’s not without bumps in the road,” Warner said. 

And the road for electric vehicles may turn rocky. After returning to the White House on Monday, President Donald Trump announced his intentions to eliminate a so-called “electric vehicle mandate,” and “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies.” The sweeping energy-focused executive order also calls for terminating waivers that allow states to limit the sale of gasoline-powered cars, and pausing disbursement of funds for electric vehicle charging stations. Trump also ordered 78 executive orders from the Biden administration to be rescinded, including a 2021 executive order aimed at having half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric. 

Some Islanders, like Wilson, say the Vineyard’s small size and growing electric vehicle infrastructure makes it an ideal location for electric vehicle ownership. 

Wilson said she understood the vessel policy was in place for safety reasons, and is weighing her options. She said gas-powered cars “still suck” for the environment, but rising sea levels and intensifying storms make flooding more likely on the Island, such as at Five Corners in Vineyard Haven.

“I’m ready for horse and buggy. I’m cool with that,” she said. 

For now, Wilson plans to buy a cheaper “Island beater” car, and then figure it out.