>Another interesting startup is Candela (https://candela.com/) who is taking on the problem from a similar angle; they use hydrofoils and a complex controls system to keep the hull foiling which is very low drag.
Candela is what I immediately thought of when I saw this, and looks like a much more interesting approach that I like both for boats and aircraft. There is no getting around present disadvantage in energy density for batteries vs fuel, even if efficiency helps make it a bit less bad than it'd look like on the tin. But electric drive trains have their own fundamental advantages too in terms of motor power for a given volume, lack of plumbing required, torque, etc. So the more interesting designs seem to be leaning into that to do things that just plain wouldn't be feasible with ICE/turbines. Like with aircraft NASA's X-57 concept [0], electric allows simply having a ton of little motors all over so rather then needing a large wing to try to prevent stalling (inefficient at high speed) they can simply actively force air over a thin wing then shut them all down. Or with Candela they can do interesting things with motors on small foils with the boat fully out of the water.
I'm not expert, but attacking the entire problem space from a different angle rather then just swapping engine for electric and fuel tanks for batteries seems like an interesting way to go long term. Though of course probably makes for more challenging engineering.
Absolutely agree, couldn't have said it better myself. It's a systems engineering problem and requires rethinking of nearly every component, from the propeller design to the architecture of motors and controls.
Torqeedo is an interesting example, they've been very successful with low-power electric outboards because in contrast with other companies they've invested heavily in rethinking propeller designs to be suitable for electric motors. The result looks nothing like a gas motor: They have huge, slow-rotating propellers that peak at <1200rpm and a high-speed brushless motor that gets geared down so it operates at the top of its RPM and efficiency range.
Candela is what I immediately thought of when I saw this, and looks like a much more interesting approach that I like both for boats and aircraft. There is no getting around present disadvantage in energy density for batteries vs fuel, even if efficiency helps make it a bit less bad than it'd look like on the tin. But electric drive trains have their own fundamental advantages too in terms of motor power for a given volume, lack of plumbing required, torque, etc. So the more interesting designs seem to be leaning into that to do things that just plain wouldn't be feasible with ICE/turbines. Like with aircraft NASA's X-57 concept [0], electric allows simply having a ton of little motors all over so rather then needing a large wing to try to prevent stalling (inefficient at high speed) they can simply actively force air over a thin wing then shut them all down. Or with Candela they can do interesting things with motors on small foils with the boat fully out of the water.
I'm not expert, but attacking the entire problem space from a different angle rather then just swapping engine for electric and fuel tanks for batteries seems like an interesting way to go long term. Though of course probably makes for more challenging engineering.
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0: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/X57/