Racing along the Potomac River at 26 knots (almost 30 mph) usually guarantees a raucous ride—but not on a battery-electric Candela C-8 hydrofoil.

Instead of the roar of a conventional boat’s fossil-fueled engine and the smack of its hull on the water, this vessel smoothly whirred along, barely shuddering over the wake of a passing water taxi as its foils cleanly sliced through the surface.

The placid experience belied the speed shown on the C-8’s touchscreen. And the loudest noise heard on a mid-October ride came not from the C-8’s electric motor, but from planes taking off from Washington National Airport that were following a prescribed course above the river.

Stockholm-based Candela (a Most Innovative Companies honoree in 2025) doesn’t just want to electrify the boating-for-fun exper

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