Swedish tech company Candela has showcased its electric hydrofoiling Candela C-7 through the waterways of Venice and says its wake-free design could save Venice from moto ondoso or wake damage.

As Afloat reported previously, waves caused by speedboats have become a genuine threat to the residents and buildings of Venice. The wake of the myriad taxi boats, water ambulances and police boats needed for transport in Venice erode the wooden pillars on which the city’s iconic houses stand. 

According to the manufacturer, the Candela C-7 is the first speedboat that doesn’t create wake. ‘Flying’ above the water’s surface at high speeds, the company says hydrofoiling is the future for waterborne transportation.

Candela is currently working on the P-12 water taxi and the P-30 electric ferry, the latter has been purchased by Swedish authorities for public transport use in Candela’s hometown of Stockholm.

In a report by Reuters, Candela’s Maria Rohman says: “The boat has five sensors that read the water and speak to the computer system in the boat and the computer system tells the foils to move and they move 100 times a second, back and forth and diagonal to keep the boat stable. So when you are up flying it takes off at about 15 knots.”

RS Electric Boats will present their latest generation of electric RIB, the Pulse 63, for the first time at The Green Tech Boat Show 2021 hosted by MDL Marinas at Queen Anne's Battery, Plymouth, 19-20 June 2021.

The world's first electric RIB with a fully integrated electric drive, the Pulse is designed to help individuals switch to a more environmentally friendly way of getting out on the water. With zero emissions, no unpleasant fumes and no risk of oil spills, the Pulse 63 promotes clean boating, and the dynamic and efficient electric propulsion is extremely quiet with minimal wake for discrete operations and a comfortable ride. The electric RIB is also built using sustainable and recycled materials and constructed on British soil to reduce shipping miles.

The Pulse 63 will be presented by the recently appointed RS Electric Boats Commercial Sales Manager, Andy Andrews. Andy brings a wealth of commercial RIB experience and knowledge to the team, including 25 years in the Royal Navy, time working for Oman Sail, Saphire Marine, Berthon, and Gemini Marine, and supplying boats, engines, marine equipment and maritime training courses to UN and Government agencies throughout East Africa.

"We are really looking forward to inviting interested parties to view the new Pulse 63 for the first time at The Green Tech Boat Show," says Andy Andrews. "With zero emissions propulsion, the Pulse 63 provides a unique opportunity for marine-based companies to meet sustainability targets and move towards a greener future. We expect the RIB to appeal to a wide range of organisations, including law enforcement, border protection, security, wind farms, harbour masters, sailing schools and marinas, to name just a few. We also offer leisure and superyacht configurations for private boat owners wanting to reduce their carbon footprint and enjoy time on the water in a way that doesn't harm the planet."

The RS Electric Boats Pulse 63 will be available to view at The Green Tech Boat Show, Queen Anne's battery, Plymouth, 19-20 June 2021 on Stand 21.

Candela P-30 is an electric ferry that builds on Candela's technology developed for the leisure boats model C-7.

“Moto Ondoso” - wake damage - from thousands of motorboats is slowly eroding the iconic buildings of Venice. A Swedish-designed electric boat that flies above the water might be the answer to the city’s problems.

Venice faces a difficult choice between using fast motorboats on the canals and protecting the city’s iconic cultural heritage. Venice has a unique traffic system where the primary means of transportation is boats. This, however, does not exempt the city from traffic-related noise pollution and congestion. Unique to Venice, though, is ”Moto Ondoso”, wake pollution, which has already caused damage to 60% of the city’s buildings, according to one study.

The greatest culprits are water taxis and tourist boats. As they pass through the narrow canals, they generate wake which washes against canal walls and foundations with great energy, speeding up erosion and eventually leading to building collapse.

Most motorboat engines lack the sophisticated catalytic converters found in cars, and therefore spew out nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. The acid nature of the pollution is thought to be speeding up the erosion of the city's medieval buildings, which are already sinking into the lagoon – a process hastened by the constant currents caused by the large number of vessels passing through the canals.

During the past year, Venice’s usually dark waterways have turned noticeably clearer because of the absence of motorboat traffic.

And hopefully, they can stay clear – or at least this is the vision laid forth by Candela, a Swedish tech company that will demonstrate their flying electric boats during the Salone di Nautica in Venice, starting on May 29.

Candela’s boats run on hydrofoils, computer-controlled underwater wings, that lift the hull above the water and decrease water friction by 80 percent compared to conventional taxi boats. Using very little energy and traveling silently, Candela’s leisure boat C-7 produces a wake that is less than 5 cm high – or about the size of wake generated by Venice’s traditional rowing boats.

Candela C-7 is the world's first electric hydrofoil boat - and will be available for test drives in Venice, May 29- June 6.

Hydrofoils are the next-generation technology for motorboats. They allow you to go fast on battery power without wake, noise or slamming, says Erik Eklund, Director of Public Transport at Candela.

The hydrofoils give the C-7 several advantages not found in other boats, be it electric or combustion engine craft.

C-7 can cruise at high speeds for well over 2 hours at a speed of 20 knots, far longer than any other electric boat. The boat flies over choppy waves rather than pounding through them, resulting in superior comfort for its passengers.

With C-7, we wanted to build the first no-compromise electric boat. It can go fast and far, like combustion engine boats. But it’s also totally silent, much smoother to ride in, fun to drive, doesn’t create wake and is very economical to drive – it’s about 99 per cent cheaper to operate than a gasoline boat of the same size, says Erik Eklund.

Just like a modern aeroplane, the C-7’s hydrofoils are controlled by computers that adjust the angle of attack continuously. The foil moves 100 times per second to balance the boat, resulting in an artificially stable ride even in strong winds and bigger waves.

Building on their leisure boat technology, Candela is also developing a bigger, passenger boat which is called the P-30 (pictured on top). This 30 passenger commuter ship is currently under construction in Stockholm, where it will run in commercial traffic from 2023 and onwards.

Imagine a future Venice where waterborne transport is not only emission-free, silent, and doesn’t damage the city’s iconic buildings, but also very cheap to operate and can provide a new, fantastic experience for tourists and locals alike. That’s what we hope to accomplish with P-30, says Erik Eklund.

We will show that electric boats can be far better than the fossil fuel competitors – but still be kind to nature, says Erik Eklund.

Nominations are now being accepted for The Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating, the international electric boat awards started last year by electric boat website Plugboats.com

Nominations are being accepted in four categories:

• Electric Boats Under 8 metres/26 feet
• Electric Boats Over 8m/26 ft
• Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers
• Customized / DIY Electric Boats

Members of the public as well as manufacturers and others in the marine industry are welcome to nominate any electric boat and can find the qualifying criteria and nomination form here 

The awards were created to recognise the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.

They are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with over 75 patents to his name who was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1882. Among his innovations was the world’s first outboard boat motor, which he devised so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat ‘Le Teléphone’ and take it home to work on in his Paris apartment.

While M. Trouvé’s invention predates the 1887 patent of the internal combustion engine, and electric boats have been available since the first years of the 20th century, it is not until recently that they have begun to enter the mainstream. Analysis from Research and Markets in February of 2020* estimates that the global market was worth US$ 4.49 Bn in 2018, and is expected to grow to US$ 12.32 Bn by 2027.

‘The Gussies’, as the awards are known in the electric boat world, are the only international boating awards that focus exclusively on electric boats and boating. The 2020 awards had 50 boats nominated from 19 countries with the winning boats hailing from France, Singapore and India.

Winners are selected through a combination of online public voting and weighted voting by a panel of industry experts from: the Electric Boat Associations of the UK, USA, Greece, Canada and Switzerland; the Alternate Fuels Committee of Inland Waterways International; and the Venice 2028 organization and e-Regatta. Online voting is hosted on the plugboats.com site.

“The first year of The Gussies saw over 10,000 votes from electric boat enthusiasts all over the world” said Jeff Butler, Editor/Publisher of Plugboats and Founder of the awards “and with interest in electric propulsion growing literally by the day, I expect many many more this year.”

The opening of nominations, May 26, is the 140th anniversary of Gustave Trouvé’s first trip down the Seine River in his electric boat in 1881. Nominations for The Gussies close on June 15 and voting will begin the next day – June 16 – to select which 6 boats in each of the 4 categories will move on to the finals. Finals voting will begin July 6 to decide the winners, announced on the 118th anniversary of Trouve’s death in 1902: July 27.

The ‘game changer’ Pulse58 was officially launched at boot Düsseldorf yesterday (Sunday 19 January), and RS joint chief executives Alex Newton Southon and Jon Partridge spoke passionately about the vision for this project and what they have planned for the future.

“We are so proud and excited to have brought the first 100% fully integrated electric production RIB to market — the response at the show has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Southon.

“We felt that it was time for change and to challenge habits, from the conversations we’ve been having around the Pulse58 its so apparent we’re not the only people that think it’s important.”

During the launch, Southon, who is technical CEO of RS, talked through the innovative technology used for the 100% electronic RIB and the hydrodynamic design as previously outlined on Afloat.ie.

From initial design, manufacturing and distribution, RS says the Pulse58 is the product of two years of development and has been packed full of sustainable credentials that compliment its zero-emissions propulsion.

This is only the beginning for the sister brand of RS Sailing, with a Pulse42 currently in development and talk of a commercial workboat and superyacht tenders showing the electric is not just limited to the leisure and coaching market.

South went on to thank RAD Propulsion, Hyperdrive, Hypermotive, Jo Richards, Clive Johnson, Raymarine, Marine360 and Tree Aid for all their work in the project.

Partridge added: “RS was born 25 years ago with the dream of changing how people race and enjoy small boats. Our motivations and dreams haven’t changed.

“With the Pulse58 we want people to enjoy the water in a completely new way — we want to reduce the amount of pollution in our waters and enjoy our playing field for a lot longer to come.”

Alongside the launch, RSelectricboats.com has gone live where you can find further information about the Pulse58, the technology behind it and ways to get in touch.