This Electric Hydrofoil Merges Flying and Boating for a Smooth, Silent Ride

Speaker 1: This electric speed boat could be the future of water transport. No fossil fuels no bouncing up and down on waves. In fact, when you get up to speed, you are not even on the water at all. Speaker 1: This is the C eight, an all electric hydrofoil boat built by Swedish company. Can D it ditches a lot of the features you've seen on [00:00:30] a regular speed boat. There's no gas or diesel fuel, no emissions and no noisy outboard motor. Instead it's powered by a lithium iron battery and a highly efficient motor that's shaped like a torpedo, but the big secret to this boat is what lies beneath instead of a hole that sits directly in the water. The canal takes its design cues from an airplane with a smooth hydrofoil that lifts the boat and makes sailing [00:01:00] feel like flying Speaker 2: A high four works just like an airplane wing. Uh, once you hit a certain speed, uh, you have a flow over the wing which provides lift and this lift will, will ultimately lift the whole hu of a CELA out of the water Speaker 1: Hydrofoils aren't new. Speaker 3: And there it goes on last week's crossing from Cali [00:01:30] the first ever by a hydrofoil caddying passengers, Speaker 1: They've been used for decades by commercial boating, operations, sailors, and even billionaire tech CEOs riding on the surfboards. But Canela is the first to bring hydrofoil technology to an electric leisure boat. And it solves a big problem. The main issue with electric boats is just how much power you need to push the whole through the waves. Speaker 2: Conventional, uh, speedboats are [00:02:00] actually some of the most energy inefficient craft, uh, on the planet. So if you have a conventional cleaning haul, it uses 15 times as much fuel per kilometer as a family car. Speaker 1: But when you push the hu up and out of the water, you reduce the drag and that reduces how much power you need to actually run the boat. The CA eight has a 44 kilowat hour lithium iron battery, and it has a range of 50 nautical miles. According to the company, [00:02:30] that's enough to easily cover the whole San Francisco bay at a speed of 22 knots or about 25 miles per hour, all with a two hour charge time. Speaker 2: So when the boat is, uh, in flying mode, it uses 80% less energy then conventional boats, which means that it can go both far and fast on, on pure butcher power. Speaker 1: There are some other benefits that come with sticking a hydrofoil on a boat because you're out of the water. You are not creating a huge wake [00:03:00] behind you and you are not slamming up and down on the wave. So Candela says you won't get seasick. This isn't the first hydrofoil boat Candela has made the C eights predecessor. The C seven had more of a traditional design with a motor on the back with a C eight, the company totally redesigned the boat, adding a direct drive motor known as the sea pod underneath the hu shaped like a torpedo. The sea pod directly drives the propellers, making it super efficient. [00:03:30] There's no transmission or cool system. The whole thing is called by the flow of seawater or lake water, or that means less mainten and running costs. Candela says the motor can run for 3000 hours without needing a service. And by going electric and putting the motor underwater, the company says the CA eight is a virtually silent ride. Speaker 2: Oh my God, it's so silent. That was the first reaction. Uh, I mean you have the motor under the water, so this no [00:04:00] transmission noise at all. So it's, it's just silent. So it's like a magic corporate, right? Really Speaker 1: Candela hasn't just revolutionized the physical shape of this leisure boat. The company also created a state-of-the-art flight control system. That avionic system, as Candela has dubbed, it can make split second adjustments. Mid-flight similar to a drone Speaker 2: When the boat is flying, it's it's inherently unstable. So it wants to tip over and roll. Uh, in order to balance it, we have [00:04:30] computers that, uh, move the wing 100 times per sec in row to stabilize the boat. So it it's like a quad copper drone, uh, and this makes the boat super stable. When you rock and flying Speaker 1: With all this design and engineering work Candela, isn't just setting its sites on the leisure boating industry. The company is also rolling out its technology to a fleet of hydrofoil ferries, which are due to begin moving passengers in Stockholm in early 20, 23, known as the P 30, the company says this 30 person ferry [00:05:00] cuts in costs by 50 to 60% compared to traditional diesel ferries of the same size while the P 30 ferry might be more about moving commuters. There's no doubt. The CA eight is more of an extravagant leisure craft think luxury boat owners and environmentally conscious buyers with cash to spend Candela is taking pre-orders for the CA starting at 290,000 euros excluding tax, or roughly $330,000 [00:05:30] us. But for that price, you get all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a luxury power boat there's room to sleep two adults and two children, as well as optional features like a shower or a hot top with a retractable sunroof, just like a Tesla. All the controls are managed on a 15 inch touch screen or on an accompanying smartphone app. And if you want the true high end experience, you can add a premium sound system though. You might not need it after [00:06:00] all, without that noisy motor, there's no sound to drown out. Speaker 1: So what's the coolest thing about this boat to you? Is it the fact that you can have an all electric power boat, or is it the fact that you are flying across the water? Let me know in the comments below and while you're there, make sure you subscribe to CNET. We are hoping to take a ride on this one later this year. So you'll be able to see that video right here in the meantime, I'm Claire Riley for what the future bringing in [00:06:30] the world of tomorrow. Today.