Image Credit: Captain Electro.
I was worried a bit about Vessev. The lads went quiet for a few months with nothing, not a word leaving their New Zealand HQ. At some point I thought they'd packed it all in. I even heard rumors that sheep farming in the hills of New Zealand is the next big thing. But thank heavens they did not - they've simply been tucked away in a shed, furiously planning the next big step. They haven't launched a boat - they've launched a full-blown assault on the boring world of water transport with two massive announcements that'll make your local ferry look like a floating bathtub.
The big news is that Vessev is taking their VS-9 electric hydrofoiling vessel to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. In case you haven't heard, Queenstown is New Zealand's fastest-growing city. It has very lofty ambitions of becoming the world's first fully electrified city. It's a lovely place, but the traffic is becoming a real nightmare. The roads around the lake are tighter than my grip on a five-dollar bill, and you can't exactly pave over the water, can you?
Image Credit: Boating New Zealand.
Enter the VS-9 - not your usual grandad's fishing boat. It's a 29-foot, 5-inch catamaran made of carbon fiber that literally flies above the water. By using foils to lift the hull out of the drink, it cuts energy consumption by 90% compared to a regular boat. It literally is the difference between running through a waist-deep swamp and sprinting on a paved track. The result? A ride so smooth you could perform open-heart surgery on the deck while doing 29 miles per hour (that's 25 knots for the nautical types).
Under the deck is a 105 kWh battery powering Vessev's custom VS-Drive motor, which I talked about recently. This setup gives the VS-9 a top speed of roughly 35 mph and a range of up to 58 miles if you aren't carrying too many heavy passengers. Even fully loaded with 10 people, it'll still do 46 miles before needing a drink of electrons. And when it does need a charge, it can gulp down power at 150 kW, meaning you're back on the water faster than you can finish an apple pie.
Image Credit: Boating New Zealand.
The trial, which kicked off in February, is being led by Kingston Village. They want to see if these flying ferries can actually move commuters and tourists between Queenstown and Kingston without everyone getting seasick or stuck in a three-hour traffic jam. Because the foils keep the boat above the waves (it can handle chop up to 2.5 feet), it's quiet, steady, and produces virtually no wake. That last bit is key, because wakes are what usually get fast boats banned from rivers and lakes.
Not content with conquering the Kiwis, Vessev is heading across the Tasman Sea to Australia. They've teamed up with the Enautic Group to bring the VS-9 to Perth's Swan River. At the moment, there are only three commercially certified electric hydrofoiling vessels in the entire world, and Vessev built two of them. By early 2027, several of these carbon-fiber beauties will be foiling around Perth, offering wine cruises and private charters.
Image Credit: Boating New Zealand.
What's truly hilarious is that the massive, soot-belching traditional ferries are forced to crawl along the Swan River at a pathetic 6 to 9 mph to avoid destroying the riverbanks with their wakes. And the VS-9 can cruise at its full 29 mph. It's basically a legal cheat code for water travel. You get to your destination four times faster, you don't smell like diesel fumes, and you look miles cooler than everyone else.
The CEO, Eric Laakmann, is convinced that electric hydrofoiling is the future for busy waterways everywhere. And honestly, for once, I'm inclined to agree with a CEO. If we can replace noisy, vibrating, expensive-to-run ferries with silent, flying catamarans that cost pennies to "fuel," why wouldn't we? It's common sense, which is a rare commodity in the automotive and marine industries these days.
Image Credit: Boating New Zealand.
The rest of the world is still trying to figure out how to make an electric car that doesn't weigh as much as a small house, and the boys in New Zealand have built a flying boat that actually works. Clever, fast, and a wee bit mental - exactly the kind of tech that we need to help us realize the future is not that bleak...
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