Maritime electrification startup Navier has hit a significant milestone today by reaching commercial production of its flagship electric hydrofoiling boat and delivering the first model to a customer. Better still, the young company has done so in an impressively short time.
Navier is a Bay Area startup founded by two MIT alumni focused on building a new type of watercraft that cuts running costs by 90%. That approach combines hydrofoils, electrification, advanced composites, and an intelligent software system into one sustainable and cost-effective watercraft that can hydrofoil above the water, reducing drag and maximizing range.
The startup caught our attention in February 2022 after unveiling its flagship electric hydrofoil, the Navier 27 (N27), followed by a successful seed funding round totaling $7.2 billion to get those initial vessels into production.
The N27 would evolve into the Navier N30 electric hydrofoiling boat, which was seen being tested in late December 2022 and touted by its makers to become the “longest-range electric boat” on the market and “the first commercially available electric hydrofoiling boat in the US.”
We’d argue that plenty of other electric hydrofoiling boats are on the market or arriving soon, including Candela, Vessev, and even a single-passenger design coming from Foil.One.
Regardless, Navier has made good on its promise to bring its first electric hydrofoiling boat to production and has just delivered its first N30 to a customer, a mere 2.5 years after unveiling the initial prototype design.
Navier N30 boats hit the market, with more builds to follow
Navier recently delivered a special edition of its first electric hydrofoiling boat, called the N30 Pioneer Edition, to a customer in California, marking the milestone with a celebration at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. During the event, Navier founder and CEO Sampriti Bhattacharyya spoke:
This is an extraordinary milestone, not only for Navier, but for the American maritime industry and for the electric vehicle market as a whole. We started Navier to build the next generation of clean, highly efficient marine vessels that combine engineering excellence with world class craftsmanship, and the N30 Pioneer Edition is a major step toward realizing that vision. By delivering the most high-tech electric boat available today in just two and a half years, we’re putting ‘America’ back in ‘maritime.’
The N30 is not only the first all-electric hydrofoiling boat in the US market, it’s also the longest range electric boat in the world, with the open variant getting almost 100 miles at cruising speed on a single charge. The N30 is like a high-tech luxury F22 Raptor on the water, with a flight control system used by US Department of Defense vessels that enables highly precise maneuverability at speed while also ensuring stability and reliability. We are proud to be building the next generation of maritime transportation right here in the Bay Area.
As its nomenclature alludes to, the N30 is thirty feet long and propelled by twin 90 kW propulsion systems and aerospace-grade redundancies to deliver maximum safety. When it reaches the plane, the Navier boat glides above waves up to four feet high, offering a smoother and quieter ride than traditional vessels.
In its standard configuration, the N30 boat can travel over 75 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots (23 mph) and is equipped with Navier’s proprietary maritime tech stack, which includes a high-performance flight control system, navigation platform, sensors, and actuator systems.
With the first customer delivery now complete, Navier said it will continue its lean, agile approach with “unwavering determination.” The startup allotted ten builds of the N30 Pioneer Edition in 2024, all of which have already been pre-sold.
Navier says the additional N30 boats are scheduled for delivery to buyers in the luxury hospitality space for use as guest amenities and to other individual buyers.
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