Nov 21, 2021

Candela A speedboat comes into view in the Autumn sunshine, but it doesn’t look anything like most of the electric boats I’ve seen. The Candela P-7 has the long sleek contours of a conventional powerboat and I’m about to fly it. This is, the Swedish company claims, the world’s first electric hydrofoil speedboat. Once onboard, a short distance out from the jetty, the demonstrator instructs me to fasten my seat belt. “Ready for take-off?” he asks, pushing the throttle forward, just like an aircraft. As if on cue, there is a whirring sound, two red hydrofoils move down through the boat and onto the water, and up we go. As we move out towards the Stockholm archipelago, we aim for the back of a passenger ferry and ride the wake. There are no thumps, no bumps. The Candela C-7 just glides. I take over the throttle and steering wheel. As we accelerate, the boat feels momentarily unstable but then we go up on hydrofoils come up and it’s smooth and quiet. At first it feels as if we are skating on two blades, albeit in a surprisingly stable way, but this wears off as I become more used to flying. Three days later, I have the chance to fly the boat again in different weather conditions - driving rain. I am more confident; the novelty of being up on a hydrofoil is wearing off. Although the cockpit is open, I remain surprisingly dry, protected by the splash screen in front of the steering wheel. MORE FOR YOU At 20 nautical knots an hour, the optimum speed for energy efficiency, the Candela handles easily and stays balanced, thanks to the fighter-jet technology behind the boat’s software and electronics. The hydrofoils ensure that drag is reduced, and Candela claims energy consumption slashed by as much as 80% compared with other traditional - hulled electric speedboats. The C-7's 40kWh battery is relatively light, and with a lightweight carbon fibre hull, it's easy to reach 30 knots. Scaling Up Back on dry land at the factory, I watch craftsmen working on Candela’s new boat, the C-8, a day-cruiser. The top speed is also 30 knots, even though it sleeps up to six adults and two children. Concentration is etched on the faces of the men and women working on the boats. Mass production this is not. However, Candela has a big order book, especially in the U.S., where it has a sales director in Silicon Valley. Athough it only started making the C-7 in 2019, Hasselskog tells me the company could be making a profit by 2023. Candela is moving to a bigger factory, north of Stockholm, but it’s hard to see how it will scale up. Up to 70% of production costs are labour. “It’s been a very manual process, and it doesn’t really scale, so we are increasingly getting to grips with how we can automate production," admits CEO and founder Gustav Hasselskog. Up and away: Candela's P-8 does 30 knots on hydrofoil Candela For instance, for each boat, a laser-cut carbon fibre fabric mat has to be manually laid into a mould. It's then vacuum bagged and epoxy resin is poured in, as the air is sucked out - a process called bag and pack. Using a milking machine, someone then has to trim the excess carbon fibre around the edges of the finished hull. With the C-8, Candela has moved away from using carbon fibre to sheet metal for the mechanism attaching the foils to the hull and retracting. It makes it easer to achieve a consistent quality and there are established ways to use robots for welding. For the time being, Candela’s boats are expensive. The C-7 retails for €250,000 plus V.A.T. and the C-8 for €290,000 plus V.A.T. While early adopters have been happy to pay up, speedboat customers are price sensitive, and Hasselskog admits the price is too high. “The target for us is to bring down the cost of manufacturing, because the only way we can have a meaningful impact on the environment is by reducing the price of the boat, and to do that we have to scale up,” he says. Charge and Go: Candela's C-7 Heather Farmbrough There are two ways to reduce costs: by using cheaper, lighter materials, such as glass rather than carbon fibre, and adopting less labour intensive manufacturing processes. For instance, it might be possible to automate how the carbon fiber mats in the hull are laid out. Highly fragmented, the speedboat industry has been slow to automate, but Hasselskog says that Candela is stepping up its own R&D in an effort to speed up innovation. Fasten Your Seatbelts  Price may matter to consumers, but when it comes to passenger ferries, operating costs count. This is where Candela’s commercial fleet, the P-12, a water taxi for 12 people, and the P-30, a waterbus for up to 30 passengers, come in. Next month, Candela will start taking orders for the P-12. So far, over 45 city authorities, including Venice, have enquired about the P-12 and/or visited. Operating this boat can slash the operator’s fuel and energy cost by between 80 – 95% compared with an electric ferry with a traditional hull and less range, Candela claims. From March next year, the smallest version of the P-30 will carry commuters from the centre of Stockholm out to one of the nearby islands, cutting the existing journey in half. This is a joint venture with the regional transport authority. Stockholm has one of the greenest public transport systems in the world. Most of the region’s buses and all trains run on renewable energy, but water-borne transport is a long way behind. “We want more people travelling by public transport, and we want to increase the capacity of our waterways,” says Gustav Hemming, Chair of Regional Planning for Stockholm Region. There are just three electric ferries in service, and two more undergoing trials with the transport authority. Compared with the P-12 and P-30, they are slower and have less range. “It takes a lot of energy to run a traditional commuter boat – they are not energy efficient, so we are very excited to be trying out Candela’s boat. It offers both an energy-efficient solution and greater velocity.” The region is not paying for the Candela P-30 but Hemming says the savings in energy costs and the profit from fares on it may fund a possible purchase. From Q2 2022 Candela's P-12 will ferry commuters to and from the city centre Candela With only 12 seats in this particular version, it’s also likely to be full. “By switching from larger to smaller, the city can increase capacity on the ferries, and even move towards a system where transport can be on demand,” explains Candela’s director of public transport Erik Eklund. In other words, it isn’t just energy-efficient but opens a world of possibilities for customers. Candela, which expects to take orders for the P-12 from early next month, has had enquiries and visits from over 45 city authorities, including Venice. This boat can slash the operator’s fuel and energy cost by between 80 – 95%. Thanks to the hydrofoils, the P-12 and P-30 can travel at a nippy average speed of 50 km/hour. The days of slow, smelly diesel ferries are coming to an end. Follow me on  Twitter  or  LinkedIn . Check out my  website .