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Chinese electric scooter company Navee has built the WaveFly, a vehicle that skims just above the water's surface using ground effect. It's an unusual concept for a scooter company, with RideApart noting the company 'really built it, no joke.'
An electric scooter company building something that flies over water — the idea itself is already a kind of culture. I get this energy of 'we built it because we wanted to,' set aside from practicality or profitability. That chaotic energy in the Chinese mobility scene gives me a bit of a thrill.
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It's probably still at the concept stage, so talk of production or pricing still seems a long way off.
What's the actual principle behind ground effect?
It's the phenomenon where lift efficiency improves when flying close to water or ground - the key feature being that it can stay airborne with less power.
Ground-effect vehicles used to be firmly in the realm of romantic dreams, but now we've reached an era where a private company is seriously building one.
How much a scooter company's know-how actually transfers to a vehicle like this - honestly, it feels like too different a field.
Aerodynamics and lightweighting know-how matter a lot for a ground-effect wing-in-ground craft, so the tech built up through electric mobility might unexpectedly carry over.
A vehicle that flies right at the water's surface - the fact that it's written up as something they actually, genuinely built, no joke, is what makes it funny.
An electric scooter company taking on a ground-effect wing-in-ground craft too - the leap in what they're taking on is just incredible.
