Candela and Polestar announced a partnership in August of last year that would see automotive-grade EV batteries hit the seas in long-range electric boats. Now that day has come as the two Swedish companies show off the fruits of their partnership with the new Candela C-8 “Powered by Polestar”.
Candela’s 8.5 meter (28 ft) C-8 electric boat has already been in the works for some time now, marking a significant upgrade over the previous C-7.
The C-8 uses hydrofoiling technology controlled by high precision custom-designed flight control software that allows the boat to fly nearly a meter above the surface of the water. That significantly reduces the boat’s drag by taking the hull out of the water, using around 80% less energy than conventional boats. With higher efficiency, the C-8 can go farther with a smaller battery pack and less powerful motors than most other electric powerboats.
Now with the new C-8 Powered by Polestar, that range is getting an even larger bump. The new model’s range rating now stands at 57 nautical miles (65 miles or 105 kilometers) per charge at a cruising speed of 22 knots (25 mph or 40 km/h). The C-8 can reach a top speed of 30 knots (34 mph or 55 km/h), though with reduced range at maximum speed.
It’s not just a longer range that the 69 kWh Polestar batteries are bringing to Candela’s boats, but also the ability to use DC fast charging to quickly replenish the battery. When not using DC fast charging, the boat will charge via Polestar’s 11 kW three-phase AC charging.
According to Candela, the 57 nautical mile range is “2 to 3 times longer than what conventional electric speedboats can achieve at high speed and compares favorably with uses cases of internal combustion engine powerboats.”
As Candela’s founder and CEO Gustav Hasselskog expanded:
“This collaboration means that C-8 can travel to destinations previously only reachable by combustion engine boats. The Candela C-8 powered by Polestar marks a significant breakthrough for electrification at sea.
Candela expects that range to be sufficient for most boaters. The company shared that usage data from Europe’s premier boat-sharing service Agapi shows that 95% of their members’ day excursions are less than 50 nautical miles, or well within the range of the 8-passenger Candela C-8.
For boaters who need longer range or want to recharge and get back out on the water quickly, the new DC fast charging feature should prove quite attractive.
As Hasselskog continued:
“With access to DC fast chargers, which now start to pop up on several coasts around the globe, you can cover totally new routes with Candela C-8. You can go from Sweden to Finland in one day, or along the whole French Riviera in a few hours. For a few euros/dollars’ worth of electricity.”
This marks a first for Polestar, which has made Candela the first third-party company to receive Polestar batteries and charging systems. But, it’s part of a broader partnership between the two EV companies in advance of the C-8 Powered by Polestar production in the first half of 2023.
As Polestar’s CEO Thomas Ingenlath explained:
“Sharing know-how on batteries and vehicle engineering with Candela will help reach our shared goal of transitioning to a future where all forms of transport are sustainable.”
Electrek’s Take
This definitely makes sense for Candela. They’re an incredible boat maker, but batteries aren’t their forte. So teaming up with a fellow Swedish EV company that does have battery expertise seems logical.
And, the fact that it makes the boats longer range and brings in fast charging ability only further sweetens the deal.
Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal
Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters
Saudi state oil giant Aramco reported a 15.4% drop in net profit in the third-quarter on the back of “lower crude oil prices and weakening refining margins,” but maintained a 31.05 billion dividend.
The company reported net income of $27.56 billion in the July-September period, topping a company-provided estimate of $26.9 billion. The print is also a 5% drop from the previous quarter, which came in at $29.1 billion, as lower global oil prices, weaker demand and prolonged OPEC+ production cuts led by Saudi Arabia continue to impact crude prices.
The average selling price of oil for the second quarter of 2024 stood at $85 per barrel, but dropped to $78.7 per barrel during the third quarter, according to Saudi-based bank Al Rajhi capital, as non-OPEC supply volumes grew.
The oil firm said its year-on-year decline was partly offset by a “reduction in selling, administrative and general expenses primarily driven by a gain from derivative instruments, and a decrease in production royalties largely reflecting lower crude oil prices and a lower average effective royalty rate compared to the same quarter last year.”
Aramco’s dividend includes a base payout of $20.3 billion and an atypical performance-linked one of $10.8 billion. The Saudi government and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, are the main beneficiaries of the dividend, holding stakes of roughly 81.5% and 16% in the company.
The remaining shareholding trades freely on Saudi Arabia’s Tadāwul stock exchange, with the company having finalized its second public share offering back in June.
Aramco’s earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) came in at $51.45 billion in the third quarter, down 17% year-on-year. Aramco’s capital expenditure guidance was brought up 20% to $13.23 billion.
The company was trading at 27.45 riyals following the announcement, down 0.18% on the previous day.
The earnings align with a broader trend across oil majors, whose third-quarter profits have also suffered from declines in crude prices and refining margins. Aramco said it achieved average realized crude price of $79.3 per barrel in the third quarter, compared with $89.3 per barrel in the same period of last year.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter who produces roughly 9 million barrels per day of crude at present, serves as the de facto leader of the OPEC+ oil producers’ alliance, a subset of whom agreed over the weekend to delay a planned December output hike by one month.
“Aramco delivered robust net income and generated strong free cash flow during the third quarter, despite a lower oil price environment,” CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement. “We also progressed our upstream developments, strengthened our downstream value chain, and advanced our new energies program as we continue to invest through cycles.”
The revenues will be a boon to the Saudi economy, which is currently undergoing a diversification process under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s legacy Vision 2030 scheme spanning a slew of high-cost infrastructure “gigaprojects.”
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance cut the kingdom’s growth forecast to 0.8% in 2024, in a steep decline from a previous projection of 4.4%, and raised the outlook for the national budgetary shortfall to roughly 2.9% of GDP, from a prior indication of 1.9%.
On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!
Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.
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Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”
November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).
It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.
Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”
May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.
“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.
The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)
Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)
Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.
The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.
To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.
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