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Re:Electric seagliders could enable short-haul emissions-fre... by taneq on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @09:08AM (#32165250)
Adding a hydrofoil is a cool idea but I'm not sure that plus electric propulsion qualifies it as that novel compared to the Ekranoplan which, two paragraphs later, it describes as a 'proposed design' (also interesting wording for a vehicle with fully functional full scale prototypes). Ultimately the problem with ocean-going ground effect vehicles is that they combine the worst of both worlds; all the expense, fuel usage, load limitations and risk of a plane perpetually two seconds after takeoff, but still at the mercy of rough seas and weather like a boat.

Looking at their page, it looks like 'seaglider' is more like a model name than a vehicle classification. It's also interesting that they quote "over 325 sold with a $6bn order backlog" when they haven't even built a full sized working prototype yet. I guess they must cost $18 million each?

Re:Electric seagliders could enable short-haul emissions-fre... by dTal on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @11:12AM (#32166897)
>all the expense, fuel usage, load limitations and risk of a plane perpetually two seconds after takeoff

Well not quite; the appeal of the ekranoplan is that it uses considerably less fuel and/or can carry considerably more weight than an aircraft of similar size. The risk profile is also different if catastrophic failure simply means you unexpectedly become a boat.

Re:Electric seagliders could enable short-haul emissions-fre... by taneq on Thursday July 21, 2022 @12:39AM (#32175843)
It's not perfectly analogous, I'll grant you... but at flight speed, even ground-effect flight speed, I think the consequences of hitting a larger than expected wave, or dipping a wing in the water after a gust of wind, are worse than just becoming a boat. (Maybe becoming what a boat would become if you dropped it from 2-3m at 100+mph...)