REGENT Unveils Full-Scale Model of All-Electric Seaglider Prototype
REGENT, a company that is developing a revolutionary all-electric seaglider, recently unveiled a full-scale mock-up of its prototype. The company also announced plans to expand its global headquarters, which will include new manufacturing and test facilities. The expansion has the potential to fulfill $8 billion in commercial orders by 2025 at the headquarters in Rhode Island.
According to REGENT, its seaglider is the first vehicle to take off from a controlled hydrofoil to wingborne flight. The seaglider is designed with multiple redundancies in its all-electric distributed power system and automated flight software and sensor systems to provide operators with full situational awareness for navigation, object detection, and flight conditions.
The $50 million in funding has significantly accelerated the development of the seaglider prototype, including building and flying the first quarter-scale seaglider prototype to prove out the float-foil-fly mission. The cumulative learnings from more than a year of flight testing were used to inform the design of the full-scale seaglider. REGENT aims to deliver its product to market by the mid-decade, tailoring its vehicles to meet the diverse needs of its customers, including commercial transport, supply chain and logistics, and military defense applications.
REGENT’s seagliders are designed to revolutionize sustainable, maritime transportation in coastal communities, offering a fast, efficient, and emission-free solution. With 40% of the world’s population living in coastal communities, there is a dire need for a fundamentally new method of transportation to efficiently move people and cargo through coastal routes.
The seagliders will serve as a complementary addition, rather than a replacement, to traditional modes of maritime and airline transportation, which can be seamlessly integrated into customers’ existing fleets. Based on publicly validated data, REGENT’s studies show that its seagliders serve an $11 billion market that could swell to as much as $25 billion as battery technology advances.
REGENT envisions its vehicles to act as a bridge between coastal city centers, facilitating multi-modal transportation through coastal airports. The company has established a loyal customer base of major airlines and ferry operators, such as FRS in Germany, Ocean Flyer in New Zealand, and Southern Airways/Mokulele Airlines, who plan to deliver their first commercial passenger seagliders to once they hit the market. The seagliders will comprise the best features of both maritime and aviation transport, combining the speed and comfort of an airplane with the cost efficiency of a boat.
The new facility expansion in Rhode Island will support initial low-rate production and at-rate production to fulfill the $8 billion commercial backlog. With the electrification of ferries, aircraft, rail, and other modes of transportation, REGENT’s all-electric seagliders are an integral part of the future of sustainable, multi-modal mobility.
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