For several years now, we have followed the all-electric hydrofoil runabouts designed and built by Candela. Now the Swedish boat builder and engineering design firm has moved beyond runabouts to delivering the P -12, the world’s first serial-production electric hydrofoiling passenger ferry which appears to be on the brink of revolutionizing urban ferry services around the world.
Recently, a Candela P-12, a 30-passenger ferry, completed what the company says is the longest electric sea journey ever made by an electric passenger vessel. The 160-nautical-mile voyage saw the ferry travel from Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast to Oslo, Norway, over the course of three days.
The Candela P-12 cruises at 25 knots, has exceeded 30 knots in testing, and can travel up to 40 nautical miles at speed on a single charge. The entire 160-nautical-mile journey consumed just over €200 worth of electricity (roughly US $230). 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.
Electrek notes that 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.
For the past year,Nova, a prototype Candela P–12, has provided ferry service in Stockholm harbor and holds the title of the fastest electric passenger vessel currently in service. The all-electric vessel has proven itself capable of traveling faster and farther using far less energy and on a smaller battery than any passenger ferry service.
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 Norway trip was designed to highlight just how different that efficiency makes real-world operations. In Oslo, the fastest conventional electric passenger ferry runs a fixed 10-nautical-mile route and depends on swapping multi-megawatt-hour battery containers at each stop – an infrastructure system that has cost hundreds of millions of Norwegian kroner and limited route flexibility.
By contrast, the Candela P-12 charges using standard DC fast chargers. Along the journey, it plugged into existing fast-charging stations where available to recharge in around one hour, and when they weren’t, it used a portable 360 kW DC charger powered by a mobile battery system – towed behind a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup. That meant no megawatt-scale dock installations were required.
Candela isn’t stopping in Sweden, either. The company already has customers lined up in Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, the Maldives, and the U.S., suggesting that this may be just the beginning of the era of flying electric ferries.