REGENT is building wave-tolerant, all-electric WIGs called “seagliders”!
328 karma · joined November 9, 2020
In no cases are we contouring waves in flight. We fly straight and level. Typical flight altitudes are 10-30ft above the wave peaks. The waves are well below us.
The benefit of ground effects are: - 10-20% range extension (agreed, between 50% and 100% wingspan, which is where seagliders fly, the aerodynamic benefit of ground effect is reduced compared to near surface flight) - Drastic reduction in reserve fuel. This is a key limitation of electric aircraft because they need to sustain powered flight to another airport in the event of an emergency. We can always land on the water, therefore, we can count all of our batteries towards "mission useable"
These two effects combine to give seagliders double the range of any electric aircraft - 180 miles with existing battery technology.
We use hydrofoils to solve for the wave tolerance and maneuverability problems that plagued past WIGs and made them commercially unviable. To take-off directly from hydrofoils before they cavitate, we had to slow take-off speed to ~50 mph, which drove us to a "blown wing" design that distributes propulsion over the wing, "blowing" the wing with high speed air and therefore creating high lift even at low speeds.
Very difficult to distribute propulsion with IC engines or mechanical linkages. Electric propulsion technology unlocks the blown wing, which unlocks the use of hydrofoils, which unlocks wave tolerance and therefore operations of WIGs, which unlocks longer range of electric flight. It all works together.
And electrification is generally good: both for the planet and for ticket prices
Plus, this way seagliders can potentially utilize the same charging infrastructure as electric aircraft, boats, and busses.
"I would love to tell you that my first job was working under my Uncle Ros (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostislav_Alexeyev) as we meticulously broke down and redesigned his life's work from the ground up, but unfortunately that's not true" - Coby Fleener
Anywhere near significant boat traffic (e.g. in harbors), we'll be on our hydrofoils at speeds of 20-50 mph. So in these environments, we're just another boat (albeit a very comfortable, wave tolerant one)
We dont leave the foil to takeoff onto our wings until we leave the harbor. This doesnt need to happen on "runways" though. We'll already be at takeoff speed (~50mph) as we're leaving the harbor, so we really just jump out of the water whenever we choose to. This way we dont need to clear long stretches of water for a "runway", which has limited seaplane operations.
Absolutely agree: Seaglider operators will have to obey the rules of the road to avoid collisions just like any other boat. WIGs are actually already in the COLREGS (we're last in line for right of way, but on the list!), and our sensor systems will ensure that seaglider captains have excellent situational awareness.
Seagliders are different from all GEVs (aka WIGs) and seaplanes of the past because of our hydrofoils. They lift us out of the water on stilts giving us 5ft of wave tolerance. We accelerate to takeoff speed on the foils (which lets us point into the wind even through waves) and then takeoff onto the wing and settle into ground effect.
Float -> Foil -> Fly
We've been testing these sensor suites in helicopters today. Flying <50 ft off the water at speeds in excess of 100 mph, simulating the seaglider operating conditions. We have plenty of time to detect and avoid traffic even in crowded waterways at speed.
https://www.railway-technology.com/features/featuregrand-pla...
High speed rail is prohibitively expensive. Besides the rail itself, you need to do grade separation from the ground so the rail can be flat, environmental impact studies, and in the US where private property rights are very strong, you might need to pay the land owners.
Look at the proposed price tags of the past 4 high speed rail projects in the US (none came to fruition): - California High Speed Rail: $77B - Acela High Speed Rail (NE Corridor): $150B - Texas Central: $20B - Virgin Trains Florida High Speed Rail: $4B (just Orlando to West Palm!)
I wish it was as simple as electric trains! Would save us a lot of engineering...
That's max range (=180 miles) at 45 min charge. So let's say we're doing 90 mile missions between the islands of Hawaii, you only drain half the battery, so charge time is only ~20-25 mins - which is how long it takes passenger to unboard and board anyways!
Operating cost is about half that of an aircraft though. 100% battery electric propulsion system!
We have some prospective customers eyeing Catalina, but that's actually on the short end of our range at ~25 miles vs our 180 mile max.
Shuttle service to SD and SB is very much in the cards - and we can do it with existing battery tech!
We're taking a different approach that focuses on community and environmental considerations first. Look for more exciting news in Hawaii soon!
As battery tech evolves to enable ranges of up to 500 miles, we can add routes like Los Angeles <> San Francisco and Boston <> New York. I'm excited about those.
So far in our 1/4 scale experiments, the foils have shed kelp pretty well. Kelp is something the America's Cup boats and even hydrofoil ferries (like in Japan and Hong Kong) have dealt with and solved.
We're one of the few companies in the space with firm, nonrefundable deposits and contractually obligated pre-delivery payments (that scale with milestones as you mentioned) on the full first year of these orders.
We take off at the periphery of harbors and fly over the open water in-between. Seagliders have 5ft wave tolerance on takeoff and landing, and 5 ft waves in a harbor is basically a hurricane. Flyover wave tolerance is more like 8-13ft, since any higher than that is likely the result of conditions where commercial aircraft arent flying anyways. We definitely designed the vehicle with wave tolerance in mind.
And all your routes are spot on! It's super exciting. 180 mile range with existing battery tech - and as batteries advance through the decade, we forecast that range growing to 500 miles. 40% of the world's population lives in coastal communities... this is a massive market!