Marine

Candela reveals final foiling ferry design ahead of Stockholm service trial

Candela reveals final foiling ferry design ahead of Stockholm service trial
The P-12 Shuttle will be produced at Candela's new automated factory in Rotebro, near Stockholm, towards the end of 2022
The P-12 Shuttle will be produced at Candela's new automated factory in Rotebro, near Stockholm, towards the end of 2022
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The P-12 Shuttle will be produced at Candela's new automated factory in Rotebro, near Stockholm, towards the end of 2022
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The P-12 Shuttle will be produced at Candela's new automated factory in Rotebro, near Stockholm, towards the end of 2022
The airy cabin will seat up to 30 passengers, plus a captain
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The airy cabin will seat up to 30 passengers, plus a captain
The cabin will have ample luggage space, and dedicated parking spots for bikes and ebikes
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The cabin will have ample luggage space, and dedicated parking spots for bikes and ebikes
The P-12 Shuttle will rise above the water and speed along at up to 30 knots thanks to two all-electric C-Pod drives and three carbon fiber foils
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The P-12 Shuttle will rise above the water and speed along at up to 30 knots thanks to two all-electric C-Pod drives and three carbon fiber foils
The P-12 Shuttle will start a nine-month service trial in 2023, ferrying passengers between a Stockholm suburb and the city center
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The P-12 Shuttle will start a nine-month service trial in 2023, ferrying passengers between a Stockholm suburb and the city center
A 180-kWh onboard battery is reckoned good for a per-charge range of up to 60 nautical miles, and can be topped up in under an hour when connected to a 200-kW DC charger
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A 180-kWh onboard battery is reckoned good for a per-charge range of up to 60 nautical miles, and can be topped up in under an hour when connected to a 200-kW DC charger
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Last year, Swedish electric boat maker Candela announced plans to launch a foiling passenger ferry called the P-30. Now in the final design phase, the craft has been renamed the P-12 Shuttle and will hit the water as a foiling catamaran.

The ferry's renaming reflects the company's change from noting passenger capacity to boat length, which also means that last year's P-12 water taxi has now evolved into the P-8 Voyager.

The key specs appear to have changed little since last year, with the foiling ferry carrying up to 30 seated passengers (plus a captain) – though the vessel is now a catamaran "to make it as wide as possible to get a high aspect ratio wing."

Top speed is the same at 30 knots (34 mph/55 km/h), with two all-electric C-Pod drives and three carbon fiber hydrofoils lifting the craft above the water, and an onboard computer regulating the foils at 100 times per second to offer passengers a smoother ride.

"There’s no other ship that has this kind of active electronic stabilization," said the company's VP of commercial vessels. "Flying aboard the P-12 Shuttle in rough seas will feel more like being on a modern express train than on a boat: it’s quiet, smooth and stable."

The P-12 Shuttle will rise above the water and speed along at up to 30 knots thanks to two all-electric C-Pod drives and three carbon fiber foils
The P-12 Shuttle will rise above the water and speed along at up to 30 knots thanks to two all-electric C-Pod drives and three carbon fiber foils

And since the 11.99-m-long (39.3-ft) P-12 Shuttle causes "near zero wake" at high speeds it has been exempted from the area's 12-knot speed limit, "allowing it to fly into the city center without causing wave damage to other vessels or sensitive shorelines."

At a service speed of 25 knots the vessel's 180-kWh battery is reckoned good for a per-charge range of between 40 and 60 nautical miles (up to 69 miles/111 km), and that battery can be juiced up in less than an hour when cabled up to a 200-kW DC charger.

The first P-12 Shuttles are expected to go into service for a nine-month trial period next year, ferrying passengers between the Stockholm suburb of Ekerö and the city center – a route that's currently served by two 200-passenger diesel vessels.

Candela is proposing replacing these ferries with at least five P-12 Shuttles, with the company's vision of providing "a nimbler waterborne public transportation system" seeing departures increase from twice per day to every 11 minutes so that folks can just turn up at the docks and hop on the next frequent flyer.

A 180-kWh onboard battery is reckoned good for a per-charge range of up to 60 nautical miles, and can be topped up in under an hour when connected to a 200-kW DC charger
A 180-kWh onboard battery is reckoned good for a per-charge range of up to 60 nautical miles, and can be topped up in under an hour when connected to a 200-kW DC charger

Should the trial be a success, the company hopes that the city's fleet of more than 70 diesel vessels will be replaced with P-12 Shuttles, and that land-based transport could also be shifted to the waterways.

"Maritime traffic is the region's most popular public transport, and I want to expand it," said Gustav Hemming, Vice President of the Regional Executive Board in Stockholm. "But we need better technology to travel faster and reduce climate impact. Therefore, we are happy to try this new technology for waterborne traffic. This project can contribute to solutions that we can use in Stockholm, but also provides opportunities for both exports and jobs in the Stockholm region."

Source: Candela

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6 comments
6 comments
Demosthenes
What I miss is a predictive radar system for flotsam. At high speed against a drifting log means a puzzle tree forward.
TedTheJackal
Never really thought about it but the commercial utility of a vehicle is fairly proportionate to its speed, but whereas the speed of a land vehicle is commonly limited by law and the speed of an aircraft is commonly limited to high subsonic, the speed and thus commercial utility of a boat is rather more subject to design tradeoffs, and a boat with 2.5X the speed has something in the ballpark of 2.5X the commercial value. Plus hydrofoils are cool.
Paul
My question would be the same as Demosthenes. The Seattle area tried Boeing Hydrofoils on the Seattle to Victoria BC route and the combination of fog & logs in the water requiring dropping off the foils (so you could see the log in time to avoid it) made the travel time so unpredictable the Hydrofoils got pulled. And that was with hydrofoils that were designed to be able to cut through a 6" log without damage. In the Salish Sea a 6" log is pretty small - there are lots floating around that are up to 2' through. For the Salish Sea (Puget Sound plus the Canadian waters) the main source of logs is the rivers & the collection on the beaches that get pulled off by high tides and set adrift again. The Swedish route appears to be a river - do they have better control over what goes into the water? Otherwise this is marvelous!
noteugene
I can see the Cost Guard buying these. Good to have for medical transport, smoother ride. Powered in various ways, not just electric.
Dr.Glove136
It will be be most interesting to see how, in the long run, the foiling ferries stack up against the diesel ferries, especially when Neptune is calling forth the worst maritime weather imaginable, i.e. gale force winds, fog, torrential rain, snow squalls, etc. I suspect that Gustav Hemming and the city of Stockholm will have to relay upon a combination of the two technologies. Bon voyage!
Vince Caruso
Great environmental benefits with this foil design. Can be carbon neutral with solar or wind electrify not to mention speed, and no sea sickness. Very low megafinance compared to petrol power. I would buy a lifetime ticket for this ferry in a heart beat!
Will need to deal with larger hard items floating in its path.