Candela has introduced the first product of a collaboration with Polestar that it announced last year. The C-8 power boat uses batteries supplied by the Swedish automaker that help it go more than twice as far as conventional electric speedboats.
The Candela C-8 will make use of the same 69 kWh battery pack and DC charging technology as the Polestar 2 Standard range Single motor. On the road, that battery pack can propel the car up to 297 miles (478 km), according to the WLTP standard. In the water, where there’s a lot more drag, the batteries are capable of taking the C-8 up to 57 nautical miles (66 miles/106 km) on a charge.
While that may sound like a remarkable drop in range, it is actually rather impressive in the nautical world, with Candela claiming that the C-8 is capable of traveling two to three times farther than conventional electric speedboats.
More: It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, No, It’s A Candela Hydrofoil With Batteries Supplied By Polestar
That is thanks, in part, to Polestar’s batteries, in addition to Candela’s efficient direct drive pod motor. Mostly, though, the advantage comes because of the C-8’s ability to rise out of the water. Computer guided hydrofoils lift the hull of the boat above the water’s surface when it’s traveling at speed, significantly reducing the drag on the boat.
That, Candela says, reduces energy consumption by up to 80 percent and makes high speeds easier. The hydrofoils and Candela’s C-POD motors allow the C-8 to fly across the water at a cruising speed of 22 knots (25 mph/41 km/h).
“With batteries from Polestar, the Candela C-8 becomes the first electric vessel that can travel to destinations that were previously only reachable by combustion engine boats,” says Gustav Hasselskog, CEO and founder of Candela. “The Candela C-8 powered by Polestar marks a significant breakthrough for electrification at sea.”
