00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:31We're in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Sitting on 14 islands, it's also called the Venice of the North.
00:38This is where these unusual boats were designed by a Swedish start-up with a plan to change the lives
00:44of commuters worldwide.
00:48Hello, my name is Mikael Malberg. Welcome to Candela in Stockholm. We build the very first electric hydrofoiling ferries here.
00:56We have a sales department here, legal and procurement. We have around 60 engineers at Candela and we're producing one
01:11vessel every two weeks.
01:14Set in the port of Freehamnen in central Stockholm, Candela has built its own testing dock for its electric-powered
01:21boats.
01:22The company has gone a long way since it was founded in 2014 by this man, a trained engineer.
01:29My name is Gustav Hasselskog. I'm the founder and CEO of Candela.
01:34And here we have the first prototype of the ferry P-12. We put that one into water almost three
01:41years ago.
01:42Since then we have built a lot of boats. So, welcome aboard.
01:50This boat is the world's first commuter-scale electric hydrofoiling vessel using computer-controlled foils to fly above the water.
01:59We have now seven knots of speed. We will put power up to 17 and then she lifts above the
02:08water and then we fly in around 25 knots.
02:1230 centimetres over the sea and with a consumption of 9 kilowatts per nautical mile. That's $1 consumption of electricity.
02:27When we lift the boat, the drag from the water reduces 80-85%.
02:33We charred this boat fully in approximately one hour. We can drive normally 40 nautical miles and we can have
02:4030 passengers.
02:42One of the most striking things you can see is that you have almost no weight behind the boat.
02:47We don't burn a lot of energy in creating massive changes of the direction of the water.
02:52When you can reduce the energy consumption and we reduce it with something like 80%, then we also take out
03:00a lot of the fuel cost.
03:02So that means that operating this type of ferry is cheaper than operating traditional old diesel ferries.
03:08Ferry traffic consumes something like 15 times more fuel per seat or per kilometre seat than if you go by
03:16a city bus.
03:17So although in most cities the ferry transport is fairly small, it contributes a lot to the total emissions from
03:24the public transport.
03:26So there is a tremendous potential to go after this big bucket of CO2 emissions with this new technology.
03:34The Candela P-12 shuttle started operating in late 2024 on a 15-kilometre route linking the Ekerö suburb and
03:42central Stockholm.
03:44Compared to traditional ferries, travel time was reduced by half and CO2 emissions were slashed by over 90%.
03:52Plans to expand the service to other routes are in the pipeline and surveys have shown high levels of passenger
03:59satisfaction.
04:02It's easy to understand why, while we're filming the P-12 ferry from one of the high-speed electric foiling
04:08leisure boats, also designed by Candela.
04:12I'm actually steering the computer and the boat is steered by the software intern.
04:18When the boat is flying, it needs to be micro-adjusted by the hydrofoil 100 times per second to be
04:23kept stable and smooth.
04:24I just go full speed, like this, and then the boat will automatically turn off.
04:32So we're approaching a speed of 70 knots here and the boat is now fully foil-borne.
04:39So we're flying roughly a metre above the water.
04:41This is a digital pill against sea sickness.
04:44The greatest benefit of this technology is that it's really a better experience.
04:49I mean, now we're sitting here and we can talk to each other without screaming.
04:53It opens up a new world of water transport because you start to talk to your passengers instead of just
04:59sitting in silence and holding on to the air life.
05:03And the whole idea with the hydrofoiling concept is to take the discomfort out of boating.
05:08At the same time, to reduce the operating costs.
05:12And, of course, spare the environment for emissions, local oil spillage and, above all, wake and noise.
05:22Back in Stockholm, production is in full swing at the Candela factory.
05:28We have multiple boats on the assembly line right now.
05:31We have three ranges right now.
05:34We have the lounge version, the business and the tour.
05:39Efforts at the moment are focused on the P-12 ferries to meet increasing demand.
05:44We have around 10 P-12 vessels on the assembly line.
05:49And there's quite a lot of challenges, being the first time we're serial producing these boats.
05:54A lot of electrical assembly, a lot of mechanical assembly, a lot of communication through the boat.
05:59Our vessel is leaving every month at the moment and we are scaling the production to be leaving every two
06:04weeks.
06:07And interest is rising, with 65 orders including from India, Thailand, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia or the U.S.
06:17Candela recently secured a contract for 20 ferries with a major operator in Norway,
06:23the world's largest electric hydrofoil fleet order so far.
06:27Yet Europe is the company's slowest customer.
06:32It takes a long time to get this type of transition to a new technology in Europe.
06:37You need long political processes and then you have public tendering processes that can be terribly slow.
06:43We see strong growth in Asia.
06:46We also see good sales in the U.S.
06:49But weaker in Europe so far.
06:52Talks, however, are ongoing with several European countries.
06:55A Berlin-based operator has already bought a P-12 commuter ferry.
07:01Candela now has broader ambitions.
07:03It plans to increase staff from 250 to 1,000 people, open a new factory in Poland and scale up
07:10production to 50 boats a year.
07:12We see a strong demand throughout the world and I don't think we have seen more than a percent of
07:18it yet.
07:19There is tremendous potential to scale this globally and I think it's important to see that the waterways are the
07:26oldest way of transport in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
07:31And now we have a way to get back to that in a new way.
07:35And I think also that compared to going by bus or by car, going by boat makes people happy.
07:40Yeah, I think soon we're going to see thousands of the ferries throughout the world.
07:46So whatever city you get to, you're going to get tired of finding candelas also there.
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