The Swedish electric boatmaker Candela has just announced the successful completion of test flights for the Candela P-12. The flying electric ferry is now headed for serial production ahead of its upcoming commercial rollout.
Candela’s electric hydrofoil pleasure crafts are already well known, often seen flying over the surface of the water around European waterways and even in several locations in the US. The Candela C-8 electric speedboat, the company’s most advanced model to date, has set world records for endurance thanks to its incredibly efficient design.
By using computer-controlled hydrofoils to lift its boats out of the water, Candela can reduce the energy used by over 80%. That means the boats can go the same distance with just 1/5th the battery, or 5x as far with the same battery as many larger and more powerful electric boats.
The hydrofoil operation also has another advantage in that it leaves no wake behind the boat. In areas like Venice where boats are required to travel slowly in order to not create wakes that erode canal edges and buildings, Candela’s boats are permitted to travel at higher speeds.
The new Candela P-12 uses the same hydrofoil technology as the company’s other boats, but supersizes it to fit up to 30 passengers. That makes the P-12 ideal for commercial use in ferry operations while solving the main issue that has hampered the spread of commercial electric boats: reduced range.
The P-12 has a range of up to 100 km (62 miles or 54 nautical miles) from its 252 kWh battery. That’s more than enough range to cover most coastal transport needs. But more importantly for commercial ferries, it can also recharge quickly with DC Fast Charging, as we’ve seen employed by Candela’s other vessels on their record-setting endurance runs.
Candela’s boats also only require a typical automotive-style DC charging station, similar to the ones you’d find in a car parking lot. That means they can use existing dock infrastructure and lower-cost chargers, unlike most commercial electric ferries that require astronomically-priced megawatt-level chargers. With a more affordable charger and the ability to use existing dock infrastructure, it makes it easier for operators to switch to electric ferries with minimal infrastructure investment.
The P-12 is so efficient that it can have a turnaround time of under two minutes per ferry stop while still using existing dock infrastructure with its own extendable boarding ramp. That quick turnaround time is thanks to the thrust vectoring of Candela’s pair of C-POD motors, developed in-house to offer a combined 340 kW (456 hp) of peak power. The thrust-vectoring provides for nimble maneuvering, even moving sideways when necessary.
According to Candela, “the P-12 is engineered to offer similar or lower initial investment costs for operators while boosting profits compared to traditional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vessels.”
The Candela P-12 is now entering serial production, after which it will sell for €1.7 million. That’s in line with the current cost of combustion engine-powered ferries today and significantly less than competing electric ferries, according to the company. Furthermore, the lower operating expenses means that the vessel is expected to cut operators’ costs per passenger kilometer by around 50%, similar to how hybrid and electric buses have helped transportation companies significantly reduce operating costs.
As Candela’s Director for Commercial Vessels Erik Eklund explained, “With the P-12, we’re not just offering a faster, more comfortable electric alternative to fossil fuel-powered vessels. We enable operators to make the switch to sustainable vessels that are cost-effective and profitable, a crucial step towards clean oceans and lakes.”
You can see the P-12 in action in the video below.
The new vessel will be available in three variants: the P-12 Shuttle, P-12 Business, and P-12 Voyager.
The Shuttle configuration can seat 30 passengers and sets a new benchmark for sustainable commuting with the lowest operational costs in the industry. It also features space for bicycles, strollers, and wheelchairs to encourage the integration of cycling with public transport.
The Business version of the P-12 features a premium interior with seating for 12 to 20 passengers along with extra room for their luggage, and the highly adaptable Voyager version offers customers flexibility in interior design, catering to both private leisure and commercial clients.
Different interior options are available on the various models
Electrek’s Take
This is some James Bond stuff, if I’ve ever seen any. It looks like it should have been in the last movie. I know it’s meant to shuttle us average Joes around affordably, but that business version should be someone’s waterborne lair.
On a serious note though, I’m loving the proliferation of hydrofoil electric boats. It just makes so much sense to cut your energy requirements by over 80% simply by lifting the boat out of the water. I mean, I say “simply,” but of course the magic that makes this work is anything but simple. Hats off to the folks at Candela who have made it look this easy though. As some of my readers may remember, I’ve tested a few Candela hydrofoil electric boats in Sweden, and I can confirm that it really is bizarrely easy to pilot them. The testing video is below, for proof.
Taking this electrically-powered hydrofoil watercraft technology to commercial operators is the obvious next step and I’m glad to see it finally happening.
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GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
BEAST and NanoBEAST; via GreenPower Motor Company.
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”