I have seen the future of sustainable water sports; my friends, it is good. I recently got the chance to take Flite’s lineup of eFoils out on the waters of South Carolina, and all I can say is, “What a feeling.” Watch me hydrofoil (and fall plenty) in the video below.
Flite began and still reigns as one of the pioneers in electric hydrofoils, or “eFoils” for short. In less than six years, the Australian eFoil developer has put its brand and the young new segment in electric water sports on the global map.
When you’re creating a new form of mobility, there’s plenty of room for innovation and improvement, something I’ve admired about Flite in the years I’ve been covering it. Its ever-growing portfolio of electric hydrofoils of varying sizes and levels of rider expertise has genuinely helped grow the segment since the debut of the original Fliteboard.
In the past year and a half alone, we saw Flite launch its Series 3 lineup of eFoils, including the ULTRA L, marketed as the “world’s lightest,” the more affordable Flite AIR, and even a Flite Scooter with removable handlebars that can help get people of all skill levels involved.
While I’ve covered much of Flite’s progress, I had never gotten the opportunity to experience the sensation of “flying” above the water’s surface until recently, when some experts with the company took me out in Charleston, South Carolina, to give it a go. Here are my thoughts.
Source: Scooter Doll
Flite eFoil boards are fun as hell if you can afford one
On the morning of our rides, I found myself slightly nervous but overall excited to test out Flite’s lineup of eFoils. I had seen them ridden by others plenty of times and always wanted to experience the technology for myself. I just wasn’t sure how good I’d be since I had only surfed once in my life and truthfully didn’t enjoy it that much.
During a crash course on the dock before taking to the sea, I learned that the art of the Flite eFoil is nothing like surfing. In fact, it’s the opposite, as your weight distribution relies heavily on the front of the board to keep the nose down instead of the rear, like in surfing.
The instructors, who were extremely helpful and knowledgeable, by the way, explained that the stance and movements are more like snowboarding—an activity I’ve been doing since I was a kid. This was music to my ears.
After learning how to prime the throttle and get the all-electric motor running, I was in the water on the classic 100L carbon Fliteboard – the original that started it all that is one beginner level up from the previously mentioned Flite AIR eFoil.
From my very first ride, I almost immediately got to my knees, learning the nuances of balancing and steering. After less than a minute, my instructor, who also happened to be a decorated water sports champion, told me to stand up. I quickly got up and began foiling, and then I quickly got down, taking a dip.
It’s all part of the learning process, and I was equipped with plenty of protection. When falling, the trick is to really embrace the spill and leap as far away from the board as possible. That’s an art form in itself, and the water provides a nice soft spot to land. You can see some of my best spills in the video below.
There’s definitely a learning curve to eFoiling, but I was surprised at just how easy it was. You may recall I once tried an electric surfboard, and I admittedly couldn’t get up on the damn thing. Flite’s eFoil’s are much easier to familiarize yourself with, and once you get the hang of it, you may just be hooked.
After a couple of runs, I learned just how subtle your leans forward and backward have to be on the eFoil to “fly,” the sensation of floating above the water cannot be over-emphasized. It’s truly a feeling of weightlessness and joy, and the lack of noise from the electric motor allows you to take in the moment cutting through the water… until you get too cocky, wobble, and get humbly ejected.
The Flite instructors soon saw me doing my thing on the eFoil, soaring up and down with control and comfort while stalling in the air at points. Due to my early talents, the Flite team decided I was ready for a smaller, lighter eFoil, the Flite Pro. I took a second to hydrate on the land (foiling can be a workout when you’re new to it), then I was back to it.
For this one, I had to put much more weight on the front end to get it hydroplaning before I could hop to my knees and eventually stand up. On my first couple of attempts, I got yeeted pretty hard off the board but quickly bounced back for more and eventually tamed the stark white aquatic dragon.
Overall, I spent well over an hour on the water and had plenty of battery life left across the two Flite boards I tested. The company sells three Flitecell battery packs that can be swapped out, offering varying operating times between 45 minutes and two hours, depending on your size, weight, and eFoil.
Overall, I had an amazing time testing the eFoils from Flite and would recommend them to anyone as a fun and innovative new way to get around on the water. The Flite AIR is currently your most affordable option, but it still starts at $7,000, so it is not cheap. From there, prices can go well over $15,000 for the “Ultra” professional-level boards, but if you have the money for a yacht, this would be an excellent toy to bring aboard.
If you can’t afford a Flite eFoil, I recommend checking to see if there’s a Flite school near you where you can rent one and get hands-on training from professionals like I did. Hydrofoiling is an amazing sensation you’ve got to try, and I’m debating getting one for myself to cruise around Lake Michigan.
Who knows, maybe I’ll go pro. Hey, it could happen!
Want to see me eat salt water? Check out the full video of the Flite eFoil experience below:
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Renewables continued to dominate fossil fuels on price in 2024, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The big takeaway: Clean energy is the cheapest power around – by a wide margin. So it’s pretty bad business that the biggest grid upgrade project in US history just got kneecapped by Trump’s Department of Energy to stop the “green scam.”
On average, solar power was 41% cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel in 2024, and onshore wind was 53% cheaper. Onshore wind held its spot as the most affordable new source of electricity at $0.034 per kilowatt-hour, with solar close behind at $0.043/kWh.
IRENA’s report says global renewables added 582 gigawatts (GW) of capacity last year, which avoided about $57 billion in fossil fuel costs. That’s not a small dent. Even more impressive: 91% of all new renewable power projects built in 2024 were cheaper than any new fossil fuel option.
Technological innovation, strong supply chains, and economies of scale are driving the cost advantage. Battery prices are helping too: IRENA says utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are now 93% cheaper than they were in 2010, with prices averaging $192/kWh in 2024.
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But it’s not all smooth sailing. The report flags short-term cost pressures from trade tensions, material bottlenecks, and rising costs in some regions. North America and Europe feel more squeezed than others due to permitting delays, limited grid capacity, and higher system costs.
Meanwhile, countries in Asia, Africa, and South America could see faster cost drops thanks to stronger learning rates and abundant solar and wind resources.
One big challenge is financing. In developing countries, high interest rates and perceived investor risk inflate the levelized cost of electricity of renewables. For example, wind power generation costs were about the same in Europe and Africa last year ($0.052/kWh), but financing made up a much larger share of project costs in Africa. IRENA estimates the cost of capital was just 3.8% in Europe but 12% in Africa.
And even if projects are affordable to build, many are getting stuck in grid connection queues or stalled by slow permitting. Those “integration costs” are now a major hurdle, especially in fast-growing G20 and emerging markets.
Tech is helping with some of that – hybrid solar-wind-storage setups and AI-powered tools are improving grid performance and project efficiency. But digital infrastructure and grid modernization still lag in many places, holding renewables back.
“Renewables are rising, the fossil fuel age is crumbling,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “But leaders must unblock barriers, build confidence, and unleash finance and investment.”
IRENA’s bottom line is that the economics of renewables are stronger than ever, but to keep the momentum going, governments and markets need to reduce risks, streamline permitting, and invest in grids.
Electrek’s Take
Speaking of unblocking barriers and investment, the opposite just happened today in Trump World. The Department of Energy just canceled a $4.9 billion conditional loan commitment for the 800-mile Grain Belt Express Phase 1 transmission project, the biggest transmission line in US history.
It’s a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line connecting Kansas wind farms across four states. It will connect four grids, improving reliability. It will be able to power 50 data centers and create 5,500 jobs. Phase 1 is due to start next year.
The new grid will also connect all forms of energy, not just renewables, and it’s super pathetic that Invenergy had to stoop to put up a map on the project’s home page today showing how it will transmit fossil fuels, the “existing dispatchable generation source,” and felt it had to leave renewables off the map entirely. Sorry, Kansas wind farms, you get no mention because this administration doesn’t like you.
Chicago-based Invenergy plans to build the 5 GW Grain Belt Express in phases from Kansas to Illinois. The company says the project will save customers $52 billion in energy costs over 15 years. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) complained to Trump about the project, calling it a “green scam,” and got the government loan canceled based on a lie, claiming it would cost taxpayers “billions.” This was Invenergy’s response on X:
This is bizarre. Senator Hawley is attempting to kill the largest transmission infrastructure project in U.S. history, which is already approved by all four states and is aligned with the President’s energy dominance agenda. Senator Hawley is trying to deprive Americans of… pic.twitter.com/ZLwTNUGZxA
As usual, Trump was swayed by the last person in the room, and Hawley shot an entire region in the foot when an upgraded grid and more renewables are needed more than ever. Hopefully, this project can continue despite the ignorant shortsightedness coming from the Republicans (who ironically released an AI Action Plan today).
It beggars belief that this political party is this isolated from the rest of the world – well, besides our besties Iran, Libya, and Yemen, who aren’t part of the Paris Agreement either – and being that the US is the world’s No 2 polluter, the world will suffer for its arrogance.
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Earnings are down 23% on falling electric vehicle sales and lower margins, but Tesla’s stock is not crashing because CEO Elon Musk is promising a return to earnings growth through autonomous driving and humanoid robots.
We previously reported on how Tesla’s Robotaxi effort is a major shift in strategy for Tesla, which has been promising unsupervised self-driving in its customer vehicles for years.
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Instead, the Robotaxi service consists of an internal fleet operating within a geo-fenced area, currently only in Austin, Texas, and powered by teleoperation and in-car supervisors with a finger on a kill switch at all times.
“I believe half of the population of the US will be covered by Tesla’s Robotaxi by the end of the year.”
He added that he believes that regulatory approval will be the biggest hurdle, even though Tesla’s current service requires a Tesla employee in each car, which is a major hurdle to scaling.
Musk and Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of self-driving, both claimed that the Bay Area will be the first market where Tesla plans to expand its Robotaxi service. However, Elluswamy added that the program will initially have a driver in the driver’s seat.
This is laughable. Who believes that? How can Elon say that with a straight face when Tesla only has a joke of a system that requires supervision at all times?
For context, Tesla currently only operates in a little over half of Austin, Texas. Here’s the list of all the metro areas Tesla would need to launch Robotaxi by the end of the year to cover half of the US population:
Rank
Metro Area
Population
Cumulative Total
1
New York
19.15 M
19.15 M
2
Los Angeles
12.68 M
31.83 M
3
Chicago
9.04 M
40.87 M
4
Houston
6.89 M
47.76 M
5
Dallas–Fort Worth
6.73 M
54.49 M
6
Miami
6.37 M
60.86 M
7
Atlanta
6.27 M
67.13 M
8
Philadelphia
5.86 M
72.99 M
9
Washington, DC
5.60 M
78.59 M
10
Phoenix
4.83 M
83.42 M
11
Boston
4.40 M
87.82 M
12
Seattle
3.58 M
91.40 M
13
Detroit
3.54 M
94.94 M
14
San Diego
3.37 M
98.31 M
15
San Francisco
3.36 M
101.67 M
16
Tampa
3.04 M
104.71 M
17
Minneapolis–St. Paul
2.62 M
107.33 M
18
St. Louis
2.80 M
110.13 M
19
Denver
2.99 M
113.12 M
20
Baltimore
2.83 M
115.95 M
21
Orlando
2.76 M
118.71 M
22
Charlotte
2.75 M
121.46 M
23
San Antonio
2.60 M
124.06 M
24
Austin
2.42 M
126.48 M
25
Pittsburgh
2.43 M
128.91 M
26
Sacramento
2.42 M
131.33 M
27
Las Vegas
2.32 M
133.65 M
28
Cincinnati
2.26 M
135.91 M
29
Kansas City
2.19 M
138.10 M
30
Columbus
2.14 M
140.24 M
31
Cleveland
2.16 M
142.40 M
32
Indianapolis
2.12 M
144.52 M
33
San José
1.99 M
146.51 M
34
Virginia Beach–Norfolk
1.76 M
148.27 M
35
Providence
1.68 M
149.95 M
36
Milwaukee
1.57 M
151.52 M
37
Jacksonville
1.60 M
153.12 M
38
Raleigh–Durham
1.45 M
154.57 M
39
Nashville
1.43 M
156.00 M
40
Oklahoma City
1.42 M
157.42 M
41
Richmond
1.30 M
158.72 M
42
Louisville
1.28 M
160.00 M
43
Salt Lake City
1.26 M
161.26 M
44
New Orleans
1.23 M
162.49 M
45
Hartford
1.20 M
163.69 M
46
Buffalo
1.11 M
164.80 M
47
Birmingham
1.10 M
165.90 M
This is ridiculous. The lies are becoming increasingly larger and more brazen. We know what that means.
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Tesla claims to have produced the “first builds” of its new “more affordable” electric car models, which are expected to be stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y.
Since last year, Tesla has discussed launching “more affordable models” based on its existing Model 3/Y vehicle platform in the first half of 2025.
We continue to expand our vehicle offering, including first builds of a more affordable model in June, with volume production planned for the second half of 2025.
Now, the automaker talks about launching the vehicle “in 2025” and again claims to have stuck to its “1H2025” timeline with the “initial production”:
“Plans for new vehicles that will launch in 2025 remain on track, including initial production of a more affordable model in 1H25.”
There’s confusion in the Tesla community around Tesla’s upcoming “affordable” vehicles because CEO Elon Musk falsely denied a report last year about Tesla’s “$25,000” EV model being canceled.
The facts are that Musk canceled two cheaper vehicles that Tesla was working on, commonly referred as “the $25,000 Tesla” in early 2024. Those vehicles were codenamed NV91 and NV92, and they were based on the new vehicle platform that Tesla is now reserving for the Cybercab.
Instead, Musk noticed that Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y production lines were starting to be underutilized as the Company faced demand issues. Therefore, Tesla canceled the vehicles program based on the new platform and decided to build new vehicles on Model 3/Y platform using the same production lines.
We previously reported that these electric vehicles will likely look very similar to Model 3 and Model Y.
In recent months, several other media reports reinforced this, and Tesla all but confirmed it during its latest earnings call, when it stated that it is “limited in how different vehicles can be when built on the same production lines.”
The vehicle is expected to be the “stripped-down” Model Y, which will feature lesser material, fewer features, and possibly be slightly smaller.
It is rumored to start at around $35,000.
The Model Y currently starts at $45,000 in the US before any incentive.
Electrek’s Take
I previously speculated that Tesla might wait to launch the stripped-down, cheaper models in the US until after Q3 to take full advantage of the demand that will be pulled forward due to the end of the $7,500 federal tax credit starting in Q4.
Things are currently aiming in that direction.
Ultimately, I think it will help Tesla increase volumes slightly, but there will be significant cannibalization of its existing lineup. I predict that it will not compensate for the decrease in sales.
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