Candela C-8 claims long-distance electric boat benchmark

Key to the technology is a partnership with Polestar, Swedish car-maker Volvo’s dedicated electric vehicle brand, for the battery technology that will power the craft.

The boat making the claim is the Candela C-8, a sleek-looking carbonfibre hull attached to a forward set of electronically adjusting foils that keep the boat at the optimum ride height through the water at planing speeds.

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The Candela C-8 has tapped the battery developed for the Polestar 2, a 69kWh unit that has enough charge to push the sedan’s 300kW electric drivetrain along the road for an estimated real-world distance of 551 kilometres.

However, because of the physics it has to deal with to push through water, the Candela C-8’s range on a single charge and at 25 knots of cruising speed will be a maximum of around 57 nautical miles, or about 105km – about a fifth of the distance of which the road-going battery is capable.

However, compared with conventional electric boats, Candela claims the C-8’s reach is two to three times further and under conditions that are close to a conventionally engined boat’s use.

“This collaboration means that the C-8 can travel to destinations previously only reachable by combustion engine boats,” Candela chief executive Gustav Hasselskog said.

“The Candela C-8 powered by Polestar marks a significant breakthrough for electrification at sea.”

Candela announced in August last year it was teaming with Polestar to help it ramp up its electrification program – the most time- and cash-intensive part of an electric boat's development program.

The Candela C-8’s foils help to reduce the boat’s drag by up to 80 per cent at higher speeds when compared with a conventional boat design, while the torpedo-like C-POD electric motor developed for the boat only uses 100hp to get up on the foils, and around 30hp to stay there.

This compares with a conventionally engined boat that would need around 100hp to achieve the same result.

Candela is also gaining a picture of how its customers will use the Candela C-8, with data supplied by a European boat-sharing service showing that almost all its customers travelled less than 50 nautical miles – well within the range of its electric reach.

The collaboration between Candela and Polestar also allows Candela to tap into Polestar’s DC charging technology, which opens up the possibility of waterside fast-charging networks to extend the range for those boaters who want to go further.

“With access to DC fast chargers, which now start to pop up in several places around the globe, you can cover totally new routes with Candela C-8,” Hasselskog said.

“You can go from Sweden to Finland in one day, or along the entire French Riviera in a few hours.”

The Candela C-8 is the only product built by the electric boat specialist after the Candela C-7, which introduced the brand to the world, halted production.

The C-8 will soon be available in four different configurations, including the C-8 runabout, landaulet-style Voyager P-8, and two water taxi-style fully enclosed versions.

Candela will have two boats on display at Germany’s Dusseldorf boat show, which starts next week.