Laura Shaughnessy is the former managing editor at Dockwalk.
In October 2020, Candela Speed Boat released its electric hydrofoil tender, the Candela Seven. The 7.7-meter tender has a top speed of 30 knots with an endurance of 2.5 hours at 20 knots. It’s both high performance and sustainable. The hydrofoils reduce the friction from the water — it reduces slamming by 90 percent. During flight, sensors and software stabilize the tender by changing the foils’ angle of attack — 100 times every second. All boats are made out of carbon fiber and they are hand-built and customized in their factory in Stockholm.
“Candela Seven is the first electric craft with speed and range to compete with fossil fuel tenders,” says Mikael Mahlberg, communications manager at Candela Speed Boat. “Thanks to computer-stabilized hydrofoils, the Seven flies above chop and wake at a speed of 30 knots. Range is 50 nautical miles in 20 knots, three times better than any competitor.”
As the first electric foiling boat, Mahlberg says it has some world-firsts: It has a superior all-electric endurance of 2.5 hours (or 50 nautical miles) in 22 knots, which is two to three times longer range than any other electric boat out there. It doesn’t slam, roll, heave, or pitch, so it’s a more comfortable ride in conditions where other tender crafts — fossil fuel or electric — slam.
Although she launched last fall, they’re now ramping up serial production and have made 18 boats so far. They’re scaling production fast, particularly since 30 have been sold.
“Candela Seven is the first electric craft with speed and range to compete with fossil fuel tenders,” says Mikael Mahlberg.
“The electric premium boat segment of the market is still very small, but Candela Seven is by far the best-selling model in that segment right now,” say Mahlberg, who predicts that Candela will sell a couple of hundred boats every year by 2023.
“We can scale our technology not only to bigger tenders, but also to superyachts (at least up to 50 meters long),” says Mahlberg. “So, in the future, you might see a flying, Candela electric superyacht that roams the sea at 30 knots without wake or emissions.”
The foils are retractable so the boat fits nicely into a superyacht garage. Since the foils provide so much lift, they can fly with up to 10 persons on board. The battery pack is 40 kWh, enabling it to charge from zero to full in four hours with a regular 3 phase 16. If you want to customize further, there are optional extras, including an aft sunbed, bimini, and foldable cruiser cover. The Candela Seven can be color-matched to complement the yacht.
This column is taken from the January 2021 issue of Dockwalk.