Candela, the Swedish electric boat maker known for its hydrofoil recreational boats and commercial ferries, is grabbing headlines yet again. This time the company is announcing a new C-series funding round and the first P-12 electric ferry headed to the US.

The P-12 is the company’s first operational hydrofoil electric ferry, and it builds upon the success of the C-7 and C-8 recreational speedboats.

All three employ Candela’s sophisticated computer-controlled hydrofoil technology that allows the boats to quite literally fly several feet above the water. Traveling at 25 knots (30 mph), the P-12 is the fastest electric ferry in operation, all while using a fraction of the same energy.

The hydrofoil flight results in a much smoother ride and dramatically improved efficiency. The fast-charging electric boats can thus carry much smaller batteries, making them lighter and more cost-effective. They can then quickly recharge at the dock in a matter of minutes.

We recently saw the first P-12 enter service as a commercial ferry in Stockholm, and now Lake Tahoe is getting into the fly electric ferry business as well.

The P12 hydrofoiling ferry will reduce travel times for Tahoe locals and visitors, providing a much-needed north-south connection across the lake, while also helping to cut emissions and mitigate road sediment that threatens the lake’s famous cobalt-blue clarity.

Lake Tahoe boasts over 15 million outdoor enthusiasts year-round, which has often led to severe road, especially during the winter months. The implementation of a fast and efficient new electric ferry will help avoid long car lines from snow-induced road closures, as well as grid-lock traffic during the summer months of popular biking and hiking destinations.

A local company, FlyTahoe, will offer a new 30-minute cross-lake ferry service, cutting the travel time in half compared to the daily 20,000 car trips along the same route.

In the winter, that same trip can often take over two hours due to heavy snowfall and road limitations. FlyTahoe will create a vital link to the 14 world-class ski resorts encircling the lake, making it an ideal option for both tourists and locals.

“It’s ironic that while millions, myself included, drive around Lake Tahoe to admire its beauty, the road sediment we generate contributes to the largest threat to the lake’s famous cobalt blue clarity. Our service will provide a faster transport than cars or buses, while keeping Tahoe blue,” says Ryan Meinzer, Founder & CEO of FlyTahoe.

Simultaneously, Candela is also celebrating another major milestone back home in Sweden, announcing an additional US $14M raised in its Series C round. That puts Candela’s total secured funding in 2024 at over $40 million. The investment will enable Candela to meet the soaring demand for its groundbreaking zero-emission vessels as it ramps up production of its various models now in service around the world.

“This is the dawn of a zero-emission revival in waterborne transportation,” says Gustav Hasselskog, Candela’s founder and CEO.

The new $14 million investment is led by SEB Private Equity, a global Private Equity investor, with additional participation of existing investors EQT Ventures and KanDela AB.

“This investment, made during a challenging time for many companies, is a testament to Candela’s technology and its unique ability to solve the pressing issue of decarbonizing transport,” added Hasselskog.

Tesla says that Nissan EV drivers, or more specifically Ariya drivers, now have access to its Supercharger network in the US and Canada.

Since earlier this year and since opening its connector as a standard last year, Tesla has been increasingly onboarding more automakers on its Supercharger network in North America.

First, it was Ford, and then GM and Rivian, and more recently, Geely’s Volvo and Polestar.

Now, according to an update on Tesla’s website, Nissan is now a supported EV automaker to use Tesla’s Supercharger network with NACS adapters in North America”

As of the time of writing, Nissan has yet to make an announcement or confirm whether or not it will provide adapters to Ariya owners.

We specify Ariya owners because the electric SUV is the only Nissan vehicle that with CCS connectors and that can work with NACS adapters to see on the Supercharger network.

Unfortunately, the Nissan Leaf uses the CHAdeMO standard, which isn’t supported by the Supercharger network.

The move will give Nissan Ariya drivers access to more than 15,000 Tesla Superchargers and greatly increase access to fast-charging for the owners.

Now, it remains to be seen if the drivers will need to buy their own adapters or if Nissan plans to provide them. Automakers have all approached the situation differently and access to adapters directly from automakers has been somewhat limited.

Some EV owners have relied on third-party adapters, which are not always recommended.

After the access through adapters, the next step is direct integration on non-Tesla EVs. It’s starting soon with the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, but many new EVs are expected to have the NACS as a standard charging port starting next year.

2025 is going to be a transition year for EV connectors in North America and starting in 2026, most, if not all new EVs, are expected to have NACS as standard.

Kia has debuted its updated EV6 with several updates including a bigger battery, a NACS charging port, and a fake gear shifter for the GT model. Better yet, the model will now be produced in Kia’s plant in Georgia, offering easier access to US tax credits.

This morning at the LA Auto Show, Kia is introducing some big updates to its popular EV6 model.

The EV6 was the first of Kia’s cars released on the E-GMP platform, which it shares with Hyundai. E-GMP cars have been quite popular, with both Kia’s EV6 and Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 selling very well in the US.

In particular, Kia’s EV6 has exceptional fast charging speed, enabling the car to charge from 10-80% of charge in just 18 minutes.

But despite it already being one of the better EVs out there over the last 3 years of its sales in the US, Kia improved it this morning with some mid-cycle updates.

The updated model has some front and rear design changes (making the car 0.6 inches longer), new wheel designs and “enhanced premium interior touches” – like additional sound dampening material – to go along with new features across all trim levels.

Perhaps the biggest headline feature is a larger battery, with 63kWh on the base model and 84kWh on the larger battery – both around 7kWh more than the 2024 model. The 84kWh battery now has an improved 2,700lb towing capacity.

Trim levels have been split into the base 63kWh Light RWD model, three separate 84kWh trim levels each with a choice of RWD or AWD (Light LR, Wind, and GT-Line), and an AWD-only GT trim.

The GT trim gets a 25hp bump to 601hp, though other models stay the same with 167hp for the single-motor smaller-battery models, 225hp for RWD large-battery models, and 320hp for AWD large-battery models.

The EV6 GT model will also get one of the headline features we’ve seen in the popular Ioniq 5 N – a new “Virtual Gear Shift” feature which “enhances driving immersion by simulating gear shifts with visuals, engine sound effects, and a tactile sensation through motor torque adjustment.”

This basically simulates the feeling of driving a manual gas car, rather than an EV – so in exchange for making your car objectively slower, you can get some silly noises and have a more complicated driving experience.

I expected to hate it, and while I still do think it’s silly and unnecessary and most people will leave it off most of the time, I was impressed by how far Hyundai took it (to the point where you can’t even go past 20mph in “first gear” – the car will just whine at you and make you upshift first). We haven’t gotten to try it out in the EV6 yet, but I’m expecting it will be a similar experience. If nothing else, it is a fun party trick.

Going back to the charging point, charging will now be even easier as the 2025 Kia EV6 will have a native NACS port. This is one of the first non-Tesla vehicles to have a native NACS port, alongside Hyundai’s offerings. Most other vehicles plug in through adapters so far, though in the next year or two we expect to see more native ports show up.

A NACS port means the EV6 will have access to Tesla Superchargers without an adapter (though now you’ll need a CCS adapter to use CCS stations… but those are readily available). The charge port has also been relocated to the left rear (on non-GT models), the same place it appears on Tesla vehicles, which should make it easier to fit into Supercharger stalls, especially non-V4 stalls with short cables.

Finally, the EV6 is embracing North America in another way, by moving production of the vehicle to Georgia (except the GT trim level). This is a result of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which incentivized companies to move EV manufacturing to the US.

These laws have led to $210 billion in investment and 240,000 EV manufacturing jobs (and counting) in the US. And producing the EV6 in the US means Americans will have an easier time getting access to the US EV tax credit, saving themselves money on one of the best EVs out there (that said, you could still access it through leasing, but now buyers will have more options).

But there’s a bit of a damper on this move, as just last week, Dumb & Dumber (nevermind, they’re both Dumber) announced that they’re going to try to kill the EV tax credit, making cars more expensive for Americans and disincentivizing these positive moves for US manufacturing. So those jobs building some of the hottest cars on the road today might be back in jeopardy because of an ignorant reality TV host’s inescapable compulsion to cause inflation and kill jobs for Americans. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

To get more specifics on the EV6 and see what’s changed, Electrek will be roaming around the LA Auto Show today, checking out the newest of what Kia has to offer, and we’ll update you if we find out anything new.

If you’d like, you can use our affiliate link to get in touch with your local dealers about the Kia EV6, and try to be one of the first in line to get the newest iteration of one of the better EVs on the road.

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