Candela is a Swedish maker of electric hydrofoiling boats, based in Stockholm. It was founded by Gustav Hasselskog and is in serial production of electric hydrofoils—the only company in the world to have reached that stage, it claims.
The firm makes the C-8, a leisure boat, and the P-12, a 30-passenger hydrofoiling ferry. The C-8's cost per nautical mile is roughly 5% of that of a conventional speedboat. The boats lift entirely out of the water on retractable hydrofoils, reducing drag by as much as 80%. Sensors measure waves and adjust wing tilt 100 times per second to maintain stability.
Candela's hulls and hydrofoil wings are built from carbon fibre; the firm says building a precise hydrofoil wing from carbon fibre is cheaper than milling one from steel. The company initially used a lithium battery from a BMW i3 electric vehicle in its prototype, then switched to batteries from BYD, and now has a partnership with Polestar, a Swedish-Chinese EV maker. Its submersible motor, mounted on the rear wing and cooled by the surrounding water, uses two coaxial counter-rotating propellers (achieving about 80% efficiency, compared with 70% for a single propeller).
As of early 2026 Candela had delivered around 100 leisure boats and had orders for 83 ferries. Several cities in Sweden and Norway have carried out passenger trials with the P-12. The firm will soon deliver eight vessels to Saudi Arabia and has orders from customers in India, Thailand and elsewhere. Its existing Stockholm factory can produce 40 vessels a year; it plans to open a larger facility in Poland in late 2026. Candela estimates the global market for electric ferries at $22bn.
People say I live in my own little fantasy world... well, at least they *know* me there!