East By West general manager Mat Jonnson said the ferry's first commercial sailing followed the its certificate of survey being approved last week.

The ferry has been a regular sight on the capital's harbour for the past few months as the company has carried out testing of the vessel built by The Wellington Electric Boat Company.

The boat will be back out of the water next week for a hull cleaning and some remedial work before full service begins on 21 March.

For the remainder of the week, the Ika Rere will by completing three sailings a day from Days Bay to Queens Wharf.

Jonnson says daily sailings will increase to four by the end of the month and possibly up to five.

"We just have to learn the vessel and see how it performs."

The Ika Rere needs a recharge after each sailing.

"Today we did Days Bay and back at 7 O'clock this morning and the batteries were sitting at 48%. And then at lunchtime we went out and did the full circuit: so Maitu-Sommes Days Bay and back to Matiu-Sommes and back here and the batteries were sitting at about 37%."

He says it takes about an hour and half to two hours to charge the batteries after the longer trip.

"At some stage hopefully in the next year we'll be putting in a 1.2 megawatt charger that will allow a full charge in 15 minutes."

West By East is currently in discussion with central and local government about the possibility of a second electric ferry being commissioned to carry passengers between Queens Wharf and Miramar where an electric bus could transport passengers to the airport.

Jonnson says the service could cut travel time between downtown Wellington and the airport by half.

The next step will be replacing  the company's two diesel ferries.

Jonnson says the Wellington Electric Boat Building Company - partially owned by East By West - is fielding calls from the world from companies interested in the technology.

He says the boats cost quite a lot more to build but far less to run.

"Very early data tells us that running electricity runs at about 45% of the cost of diesel and somewhere between a 80 to 85% reduction in carbon emissions."

 
The cost of the ferries will come down with the initial ferries costing more as moulds need to be specifically made for each new model but can then be re-used for subsequent ones.

So were the passengers happy?

"It's hard to read people's emotions under these masks, isn't it?" Jonnson says. "But there were definitely expressions of surprise about how quiet it is."