Candela flies into ‘non-democracies’ as Europe rollout stalls: ‘Market is more or less dead’
15 jan. 2026
21:52
Candela’s electric ferries are designed and built in Sweden, backed by European capital, and pitched as a cleaner alternative to the continent's diesel fleets.
So why are most of them ending up outside Europe?
To find out, we visited Candela’s Stockholm factory and sat down with founder Gustav Hasselskog to talk about Europe’s regulatory roadblocks, the company’s high-stakes scale-up challenge, and why he believes climate tech startups shouldn’t get more government money.
So why are most of them ending up outside Europe?
To find out, we visited Candela’s Stockholm factory and sat down with founder Gustav Hasselskog to talk about Europe’s regulatory roadblocks, the company’s high-stakes scale-up challenge, and why he believes climate tech startups shouldn’t get more government money.
The factory floor hums with quiet intensity. Eleven sleek hulls sit in various stages of completion, each one with a glossy black carbon fibre shell that catches the industrial lighting like wet ink. Teams of engineers move between them with the focused energy of worker ants building something improbable – electric hydrofoil ferries that practically fly above the water.
This is Candela's production facility, north of Stockholm, and it's scaling fast. Two hundred employees now, hiring 10 per month, cranking out one new 30-passenger ferry per month. At full capacity, the plant is expected to produce 40 boats every year.