It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ship…it's…what is that?
Thalheimer: “A sea glider is an all-electric, battery-powered craft.”
Billy Thalheimer is co-founder and CEO of Regent, a company developing a 12-passenger sea glider called the Viceroy.
It looks similar to an airplane. But when operating, it began to float on its hull like a boat. It rises onto a hydrofoil – a wing-like structure that lifts it slightly above the water. Then in open water, it takes off and cruises on a cushion of air near the water's surface.
Thalheimer: “This is the cushion of air that birds rely on when flying low over the water.”
Sea gliders could be a way to travel quickly between Boston and coastal cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, he said.
And because they are powered by electricity, which can be provided by clean energy, they have the potential to protect the climate better than airplanes or diesel-powered ships.
Regent has completed an operational prototype of the vehicle. Thalheimer expects to begin commercial production within three years, with plans to eventually scale up to produce larger vessels that can carry 100 or more people.
Sea gliders could therefore provide an alternative to planes, trains and cars.
Report source: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media
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