It floats, it flies, it works: World’s first hydrofoil electric ferry is crushing it
It flies, it floats, it’s electric — and now it’s officially a hit. The world’s first electric hydrofoil ferry, a Candela P-12 vessel named Nova, has wrapped up its first season of public service in Stockholm, and new data confirms what many suspected: this sleek, silent, water-skimming machine isn’t just a cool piece of tech — it’s also wildly successful.
The Nova, which first entered Stockholm’s public transport system last fall, uses a combination of electric propulsion and hydrofoil technology to quite literally lift above the water. This reduces drag, increases efficiency, and makes it the fastest electric passenger vessel in the world, cruising comfortably at 25 knots (around 29 mph or 46 km/h).
As it prepares to return to the water on April 15 after a winter pause, Stockholm’s public transport authority has released performance data from Nova’s autumn run. The numbers reveal that the boat isn’t just fast — it’s popular, green, and pulling people out of their cars.
Compared to the diesel ferries it operates alongside, Nova emits 95% less CO₂ and uses 84% less energy per passenger-kilometer. That translates to just 23 grams of CO₂ per passenger-kilometer, compared to 439 grams for the older diesel vessels. In other words, it’s a drop in a bucket compared to the old standard.
It’s not just an environmental win — it’s a rider favorite too. With 80% average occupancy (and many trips fully booked), Nova has become quite literally one of the hottest tickets on Stockholm’s Route 89. Some of that success may come from its 30-minute travel time between Tappström and Stockholm City Hall — roughly half the time it takes to get there by car or bus.
The numbers are clear with the data revealing that Nova attracts more people to travel on water, with a 30% increase in ridership on route 89. According to Candela CEO Gustav Hasselskog, this shows that high-speed, comfortable waterborne transit can actually convert car commuters into ferry riders — a holy grail for sustainable city planning.
In response to the strong demand, Region Stockholm will expand Nova’s service from five to six days a week this spring, and to daily operations by May. In August, the pilot program will be evaluated — and Candela is already eyeing more routes across Stockholm’s vast archipelago.
The P-12’s combination of speed, silence, and ultra-low operating costs makes it ideal for routes with moderate passenger volume — a gap that many traditional ferries struggle to serve efficiently.
Candela isn’t stopping in Sweden, either. The company already has customers lined up in Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and the U.S., suggesting that this may be just the beginning of the era of flying electric ferries.
“We are incredibly happy that Region Stockholm has enabled us to demonstrate the hydrofoil technology in the city’s public transport. We see that waterways in most cities have enormous potential for fast, low-cost, and emission-free transport that can relieve road networks and increase accessibility,” said Hasselskog. “This is just the beginning.”
Electrek’s Take
I’ve followed Candela with such interest over the years not just because of their fun electric speedboats (though I love those too, as you can tell from my first ride video below), but also because of the company’s ability to help take more cars off the road and switch commuters to ferry riders.
As someone who lives a largely car-free lifestyle, that’s huge for me. When we talk about reforming urban transportation, such lofty goals require a holistic approach and we should include a diverse field of options that can work together to achieve those intentions. Flying electric boats might not be most people’s first thought, but they achieve the same goal as many other alternatives, shifting commuters to more sustainable alternatives to cars.
We’ve already seen how capable electric hydrofoil ferries like these are, even watching the Candela P-12 tackle large swells in open seas. So short commutes like these that allow rapid recharging via DC Fast Charging at each stop make so much sense for such a capable machine.
Even when compared to traditional electric ferries, which are already an improvement by reducing emissions, electric hydrofoil ferries like these go so much further. They not only use even less energy than a traditional electric ferry, but they offer a faster trip and a smoother ride, making the idea of ferry travel that much more enticing. In this case seen in Stockholm, commuters get to arrive faster, more comfortably, and in a pretty cool way. That’s a win-win-win if you ask me!
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On today’s fleet-focused episode of Quick Charge, we talk about a hot topic in today’s trucking industry called, “the messy middle,” explore some of the ways legacy truck brands are working to reduce fuel consumption and increase freight efficiency. PLUS: we’ve got ReVolt Motors’ CEO and founder Gus Gardner on-hand to tell us why he thinks his solution is better.
You know, for some people.
We’ve also got a look at the Kenworth Supertruck 2 concept truck, revisit the Revoy hybrid tandem trailer, and even plug a great article by CCJ’s Jeff Seger, who is asking some great questions over there. All this and more – enjoy!
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Thanks to Trump’s repeated executive order attacks on US clean energy policy, nearly $8 billion in investments and 16 new large-scale factories and other projects were cancelled, closed, or downsized in Q1 2025.
The $7.9 billion in investments withdrawn since January are more than three times the total investments cancelled over the previous 30 months, according to nonpartisan policy group E2’s latest Clean Economy Works monthly update.
However, companies continue to invest in the US renewable sector. Businesses in March announced 10 projects worth more than $1.6 billion for new solar, EV, and grid and transmission equipment factories across six states. That includes Tesla’s plan to invest $200 million in a battery factory near Houston that’s expected to create at least 1,500 new jobs. Combined, the projects are expected to create at least 5,000 new permanent jobs if completed.
Michael Timberlake of E2 said, “Clean energy companies still want to invest in America, but uncertainty over Trump administration policies and the future of critical clean energy tax credits are taking a clear toll. If this self-inflicted and unnecessary market uncertainty continues, we’ll almost certainly see more projects paused, more construction halted, and more job opportunities disappear.”
March’s 10 new projects bring the overall number of major clean energy projects tracked by E2 to 390 across 42 states and Puerto Rico. Companies have said they plan to invest more than $133 billion in these projects and hire 122,000 permanent workers.
Since Congress passed federal clean energy tax credits in August 2022, 34 clean energy projects have been cancelled, downsized, or shut down altogether, wiping out more than 15,000 jobs and scrapping $10 billion in planned investment, according to E2 and Atlas Public Policy.
However, in just the first three months of 2025, after Trump started rolling back clean energy policies, 13 projects were scrapped or scaled back, totaling more than $5 billion. That includes Bosch pulling the plug on its $200 million hydrogen fuel cell plant in South Carolina and Freyr Battery canceling its $2.5 billion battery factory in Georgia.
Republican-led districts have reaped the biggest rewards from Biden’s clean energy tax credits, but they’re also taking the biggest hits under Trump. So far, more than $6 billion in projects and over 10,000 jobs have been wiped out in GOP districts alone.
And the stakes are high. Through March, Republican districts have claimed 62% of all clean energy project announcements, 71% of the jobs, and a staggering 83% of the total investment.
A full map and list of announcements can be seen on E2’s website here. E2 says it will incorporate cancellation data in the coming weeks.
Read more: FREYR kills plans to build a $2.6 billion battery factory in Georgia
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Tesla has reportedly delayed the launch of its new “affordable EV,” which is believed to be a stripped-down Model Y, in the United States.
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a pivotal decision that altered the automaker’s direction for the next few years.
The CEO canceled Tesla’s plan to build a cheaper new “$25,000 vehicle” on its next-generation “unboxed” vehicle platform to focus solely on the Robotaxi, utilizing the latest technology, and instead, Tesla plans to build more affordable EVs, though more expensive than previously announced, on its existing Model Y platform.
Musk has believed that Tesla is on the verge of solving self-driving technology for the last few years, and because of that, he believes that a $25,000 EV wouldn’t make sense, as self-driving ride-hailing fleets would take over the lower end of the car market.
However, he has been consistently wrong about Tesla solving self-driving, which he first said would happen in 2019.
In the meantime, Tesla’s sales have been decreasing and the automaker had to throttle down production at all its manufacturing facilities.
That’s why, instead of building new, more affordable EVs on new production lines, Musk decided to greenlight new vehicles built on the same production lines as Model 3 and Model Y – increasing the utilization rate of its existing manufacturing lines.
Those vehicles have been described as “stripped-down Model Ys” with fewer features and cheaper materials, which Tesla said would launch in “the first half of 2025.”
Reuters is now reporting that Tesla is seeing a delay of “at least months” in launching the first new “lower-cost Model Y” in the US:
Tesla has promised affordable vehicles beginning in the first half of the year, offering a potential boost to flagging sales. Global production of the lower-cost Model Y, internally codenamed E41, is expected to begin in the United States, the sources said, but it would be at least months later than Tesla’s public plan, they added, offering a range of revised targets from the third quarter to early next year.
Along with the delay, the report also claims that Tesla aims to produce 250,000 units of the new model in the US by 2026. This would match Tesla’s currently reduced production capacity at Gigafactory Texas and Fremont factory.
The report follows other recent reports coming from China that also claimed Tesla’s new “affordable EVs” are “stripped-down Model Ys.”
The Chinese report references the new version of the Model 3 that Tesla launched in Mexico last year. It’s a regular Model 3, but Tesla removed some features, like the second-row screen, ambient lighting strip, and it uses fabric interior material rather than Tesla’s usual vegan leather.
The new Reuters report also said that Tesla planned to follow the stripped-down Model Y with a similar Model 3.
In China, the new vehicle was expected to come in the second half of 2025, and Tesla was waiting to see the impact of the updated Model Y, which launched earlier this year.
Electrek’s Take
These reports lend weight to what we have been saying for a year now: Tesla’s “more affordable EVs” will essentially be stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3.
While they will enable Tesla to utilize its currently underutilized factories more efficiently, they will also cannibalize its existing Model 3 and Y lineup and significantly reduce its already dwindling gross margins.
I think Musk will sell the move as being good in the long term because it will allow Tesla to deploy more vehicles, which will later generate more revenue through the purchase of the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package.
However, that has been his argument for years, and it has yet to pan out as FSD still requires driver supervision and likely will for years to come, resulting in an extremely low take-rate for the $8,000 package.
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