Electric boats are starting to bloom. There are a lot of different types of boats, and thus a lot of different powertrains that need to be electrified. One type I hadn’t ever thought or learned much about is a foiling boat. Motor Boat & Yachting has an article to catch you up on the general idea: “Foiling technology: everything you need to know about hydrofoils.” The short summary: “Foiling refers to the use of hydrofoils attached to the hull of fast boats, which provides additional lift at planing speeds – often enough to lift the hull completely clear of the water.”
Candela has reportedly created the first electric foiling boat. The explanation for why they went with a foiling system seems to be a practical one:
“How do you massively increase the efficiency of a boat?
“You fly.”
Candela says it offers the “first electric boats with real range.” Increasing the range of a speedboat with hydrofoils means that you all of a sudden have a speedboat that can go quite far (50 nautical miles at 22 knots, which is 57.54 land miles at 25.3 mph). The speedboat has a max speed of 30 knots (35 mph).
“By bringing together some of the world’s brightest researchers and engineers, Candela has redefined what a boat is. The world’s only boat with speed & electric range and an unbeatable comfort in rough seas,” Candela writes.
“Simply the future of boating.”
I initially thought that just referred to the electric powertrain. However, this bullet list of features made me to a double-take:
- Always connected to the cloud via 3G network
- High frequency data logging for enhanced support and fleet learning
- Remote software updates
- App showing charging status, boat position, data logs, and geofence options
- Text message notifications for theft warning and charge status change
Diving in even deeper, TEAM SUBTECH starts off its video exploring the Candela electric boat like this: “We start off in the Candela factory together with our team driver and 6x Powerboat World Champion Erik Stark to see how they make the world’s first 100% electric foiling boat. World Champ Erik get ready for take off to navigate this fully electric, foiling boat thru thousands of tiny islands far out in the amazing Stockholm archipelago in Sweden where no other electric boat have the battery capacity to reach.”
What it's like to drive the world's first flying electric boat! @ben_gt @SAEdelstein @BradBerman https://t.co/dITqPW4U7K pic.twitter.com/nAmGLMnwIG
— Candela Speed Boat (@CandelaBoat) July 1, 2020
A clean electric boat is also the perfect boat to use for water skiing.
Photos via Candela
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