James Gaines, Contributor
March 14, 2022
(Inside Science) -- The boat appeared normal in the video until it didn't. A sleek white powerboat, about 30 feet long, skimmed along the top of the water like one would expect until the boat's hull began to rise bodily out of the water, revealing three stilt-like legs.
This was an early run of one of the newest all-electric powerboats, the Swedish company Candela's new C-8. The pleasure boating industry, like the car industry, is starting to invest in electrification and weaning itself off fossil fuels. And by designing their boats to use hydrofoils -- essentially underwater wings -- that lift most of the boat out of the water, Candela hopes they can become the flagship of this nascent movement.
Under the hood, swapping out a power boat's gas-guzzling motor for an electric one isn't that different from making the swap in a car. But once it gets going, boating has a major disadvantage: water is heavy. It drags on a boat's hull as it moves, forcing the engine to work harder for every tick of speed compared to a car. Even powerboats that rise partially out of the water as they move, due to a design feature known as a planing hull, are held back...
