This week in ‘cool tech you didn’t realise you wanted‘, the recently announced Navee Wavefly 5X is now available for pre-order. It’ll take R162,000 ($10,000) to secure a booking, but it’ll run you R3.2 million to purchase the whole thing. Why? Because it flies. Sort of.
The craft’s full title is the Navee Wavefly 5X flying speedboat. The main feature, ground-effect flight, means it actually flies 30cm to 80cm above the surface of the water it’s on. It runs at a top speed of around 80km/h, but it’ll cruise at around 60km/h. Best of all, you’re not going to need a pilot’s license. Or, technically, water.
Wavefly 5X goodbye
According to Navee, its ‘flying’ boat takes off without needing a runway. A flat surface, on the other hand, is required. We don’t see it doing too well on a choppy ocean. We do, however, see it doing cartwheels on a choppy ocean. The company lists “[w]ater, sand, grass, [and] ice” as possible takeoff surfaces. It’s likely safer to operate over water than to use it to hop dunes.
The Wavefly 5X uses four electric motors driving propellers, and a fully electric drive system. Each motor generates 8,000W of power for a rated 70 minutes of operation time. Swappable batteries extend that, but they’ll likely also extend the price tag.
Honestly, though? If it weren’t for the fact that Navee makes numerous other electric vehicles like scooters and dirt bikes, we’d suspect someone was messing with us. The company has a brief video of the Wavefly in action on its website, and it looks like flat surfaces — lakes or rivers — are where this thing should live. The company reckons the craft’s design is stable, but we can’t help imagining what would happen if one of the Formula 1-style wings were to dig into the water at 80km/h. It’s less of a problem on a lake, but some enterprising bugger is going to take it onto the ocean at some point. Even the maximum flight height of 1.2 metres isn’t going to fare well around six-foot swells.
Still, it’s your three million bucks. Navee reckons that a $10,000 deposit is enough for them to put “a dedicated account manager” in touch with you. Presumably so you can customise your flying boat to your liking.
