Juneau’s electric vehicle enthusiasts have been among the most fervent in the nation, so far bringing about 1,000 fully electric or hybrid electric vehicles to Juneau, said Will Judy, president of the Juneau Electric Vehicle Association.

But that adoption rate may have hit a roadblock that’s been making additional growth more difficult, and it shows no signs of weakening.

Ironically, that roadblock began at sea, when a fire broke out on a huge car carrier in the Gulf of Alaska about 300 miles south of Adak on June 3, 2025.

The car carrier Morning Midas had hundreds of electric vehicles among the 3,000 it was carrying. Those ranged from fully electric to plug-in hybrids, but all were powered by lithium-ion batteries. It was those batteries that likely started a fire that burned for three weeks before the vessel eventually sank on June 24. 

The Morning Midas fire highlighted the dangers of shipping electric vehicles. 

Alaska Marine Lines, the barge line to Southeast Alaska, almost immediately banned shipment of fully electric and plug-in hybrids. The risk of a catastrophic fire, especially at sea, was just too great, the company said.

But that left Juneau with a problem.

“It’s not just getting them in,” Judy said. “It’s getting them out, it’s been getting them serviced.”

A year after the ban was imposed, AML said there are no plans to change it. 

“We continue to evaluate options to mitigate the fire risk, but as of now our shipping policy remains the same — Alaska Marine Lines will not ship electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs),” said Ryan Dixon, a spokesperson for Lynden Transport, AML’s parent company.

Southeast communities now rely solely on the Alaska Marine Highway System.

“As far as I know, we might be the only people that do still carry them … but we do two per voyage,” said Gabe Strong, spokesperson for the state ferry system.

Those safety limits, imposed even before the Morning Midas fire, are intended to keep electric vehicles away from other vehicles.

These limits were created after Alaska Marine Highway System Marine Director Craig Tornga brought in marine firefighting and EV firefighting experts in 2024.

Establishing the two-per-trip maximum involved a joint firefighting exercise aboard the Kennicott with the Ketchikan Fire Department to determine how many EVs were safe, Strong said. 

Those limits make expanding the fleet of electric vehicles in Southeast challenging.

“We like to offer that service; it’s just because of the safety issues with them that we have to limit how many we can bring on a vessel,” Strong said.

If there is no space available on the weekly ferry north from Bellingham, Washington, to Southeast, car dealers and car buyers can truck their vehicles to Haines, then get on an available ferry for shipment to another Southeast port — assuming those southbound voyages have room for an EV.