Electric 'flying boats' aim to replace ferries

STORY: This all-electric seaplane

could take you on vacation one day

according to its U.S. developers

Courtesy: REGENT

Billy Thalheimer, REGENT CEO and co-founder:

"Seagliders are all-electric flying boats.”

“These shorter routes, say a 100 mile to 500 mile routes, if you do take a plane, there is an incredible amount of overhead associated with that. You're travelling to the airport, you're waiting in security. Even boarding can take a half hour and de-boarding. And so you end up being in the airport or sitting on the ground as long or longer than you're actually travelling and you're in the plane en route. And so that doesn't make sense for these routes. And what seagliders offer is this far more relaxed, far more efficient mode of transportation on these regional routes. Go down to the dock, board it like a ferry, and you're off on your way. Once you clear the harbor on your hydrofoil, taking off on to your wing, flying on this cushion of air and then accelerating to aircraft speeds."

“They're for high speed, low cost, totally sustainable regional transportation.”

The seaglider is a

zero-emissions vehicle

The company says it can fly 180 miles

with existing battery technology

but could travel up to 500 miles

with next-gen batteries

“So we've seen very strong customer interest, both from the airline industry and from the ferry industry. You know, we sort of bridge the gap and both. We represent a vehicle that is an order of magnitude faster than ferries, 6 to 10 times faster than ferries and half the cost of an aircraft. And it beats the door-to-door time on both and completely eliminates emissions.”

REGENT expects its

first 12-seater Viceroy

to carry commercial passengers by 2025