The city of Venice suffers from "moto ondoso" - wake damage- from the hundreds of thousands of motorboats that pass through the city every year.
The motorboats, primarily water taxis and tourist boats, generate wake as the pass through the narrow canals, which washes against the canal walls ad foundations with intense force, speeding up erosion which eventually leads to the collapse of buildings.
Most motorboat engines lack the catalytic converters found in cars, and therefore spew out nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. The acid nature of the pollution is thought to be speeding up the erosion of the city's medieval buildings, which are already sinking into the lagoon as it is.
A Swedish tech company hopes to be able to provide a solution.
Candela’s boats run on hydrofoils, computer-controlled underwater wings, that lift the hull above the water and decrease water friction by 80 percent compared to conventional taxi boats. Using very little energy and traveling silently, Candela’s leisure boat C-7 produces a wake that is less than 5 cm high – or about the size of wake generated by Venice’s traditional rowing boats.
This allows the boats to travel at the speed of traditional motorboats but while causing minimal damage, similar to that of a traditional boat.
"With C-7, we wanted to build the first no-compromise electric boat. It can go fast and far, like combustion engine boats. But it’s also totally silent, much smoother to ride in, fun to drive, doesn’t create wake and is very economical to drive – it’s about 99 percent cheaper to operate than a gasoline boat of the same size," said Erik Eklund, Director of Public Transport at Candela.
The company hope to provide Venice with emission-free, silent, and harmless waterborne transport at a low cost, according to Eklund.
Building on their leisure boat technology, Candela is also developing a bigger, passenger boat which is called the P-30 (pictured on top). This 30 passenger commuter ship is currently under construction in Stockholm and is expected to be launched in 2023.
Candela will be demonstrating their flying electrical boards during the Venice boating fair starting on May 29th.
Candela will be demonstrating their flying electrical boards during the Venice boating fair starting on May 29th.