The Candela company has just unveiled the fastest electric maritime transport shuttle in the world: the Candela P-12 Shuttle. Reaching a speed of 30 knots (55 km/h), it will serve the suburbs of Stockholm and the city centre. While it takes 55 minutes to make this journey by bus or metro, this shuttle will cover the 15 km required in just 25 minutes.
For several years now, manufacturers have been looking at flying taxis. The start-up Caps, for example, presented its first prototypes of flying and autonomous taxis, with an establishment in France planned for 2025. Another Chinese manufacturer has undertaken to offer the first commercial flights from the same year.
As for NASA, in September 2021 it launched the first tests of flying taxis with the company Joby Aviation. But for some companies, the future of public transport is not in the air, but in the sea. This is the case of the Swedish company Candela, which has just presented the P-12 Shuttle, the fastest, longest and most economical electric shuttle in the world.
A greener and faster alternative
Capable of traveling Stockholm’s longest routes at high speed, the Candela P-12 Shuttle will be used by locals to connect the capital’s suburb of Ekerö to the city center. According to the company, this journey usually takes 55 minutes by bus, metro, conventional ferry and car during peak hours. With the shuttle, it will only take 25 minutes to cover the necessary 15 km.
This will allow users to save 50 minutes per day on their journey time. It must be said that the shuttle is able to reach theat a speed of 30 knots, or 55 km/h. To do this, it relies on its three large carbon fiber wings that extend under the hull. And thanks to the active hydrofoils (note: a streamlined and submerged wing), the shuttle lifts above the waterallowing it to drastically reduce the drag and therefore the loss of speed.
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A concentration of technologies for the fastest shuttle in the world
As Candela explains, the technology used makes it possible to reduce energy per passenger/kilometre by 95% compared to conventional shuttleswhich allows him to obtain an autonomy of 80km. Moreover, by using the equivalent of 0.1 kWh of electricity per passenger/km, the ship will remain more ecological than an electric bus. It should be added that the P-12 Shuttle will be able to recharge its batteries in less than an hour, thanks to at a DC load of 200 kW.
To prevent the 30 passengers from becoming victims of seasickness, the shuttle boarded a flight controller to regulate and recalibrate the hydrofoils 100 times per second. This in order to “ensure regular and smooth sailing over the waves”.
The city of Stockholm will be the first in the world to test this new maritime shuttle revolutionary for a 9-month trial period in 2023. If this trial period is conclusive, the town hall has announced its desire to change its public maritime transport fleet (70 diesel boats) by P-12 Shuttle.