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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 Boat
  • Navier Boat

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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Tesla police cruiser, Trump voters love solar, and at least the mines will be nice

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Tesla police cruiser, Trump voters love solar, and at least the mines will be nice

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that, as a trusted media personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves cobalt mines.

We’ve also got the world’s quickest police pursuit vehicle, an Amnesty International report highlighting Tesla and Mercedes’ efforts to improve worker conditions in the Congo, and an exploration of Trump voters’ love for solar power.

Today’s episode is sponsored by BLUETTI, a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems. For a limited time, save up to 50% during BLUETTI’s exclusive Black Friday pre-sale, now through November 11. Learn more by clicking here.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

Read more: Cybertruck dually, overland Kia concepts, and electric Mopars at SEMA.

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Trump won – what now for US clean energy?

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Trump won – what now for US clean energy?

Donald Trump will push fossil fuels and undo renewable energy policies, but it ultimately won’t stop clean energy’s momentum.

Trump has always pushed for more oil drilling and fewer regulations, left the Paris Agreement in his first term as president, says he hates “windmills,” promised to scrap offshore wind on “day one” if he won the 2024 election, and calls climate change a “scam.” And now that he’s won, this is a direct threat to the US’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050. After all, federal policy directly impacts the pace of renewable energy growth, especially when it comes to incentives and research funding.

The Biden administration’s groundbreaking Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has spurred a clean energy boom, will be challenged under Trump. Because Republican states have received 80% of the IRA’s money with which they’ve built factories and created thousands of jobs, a complete IRA repeal is unlikely. What’s more probable is that the Republicans phase out tax credits earlier than planned or cap overall funding.

Federal financial support for innovative technologies and projects could also take a hit. Brendan Bell, COO of Aligned Climate Capital, who formerly led the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, told Electrek:

My partner Peter and I led the DOE Loan Program Office under President Obama. We supported the first utility-scale solar and storage projects, as well as early EV investments – including the first loan to Tesla.

Today, these technologies are commercialized and are propelling the clean energy transition. None of it would have been possible if these programs had been cut off 10 years ago.

Put simply, Trump can’t turn back the tide of clean energy – but he could delay tomorrow’s solutions and the birth of new industries.

BloombergNEF’s “2H 2024 US Clean Energy Market Outlook,” released at the end of October, examined the worst-case scenario, where control of both the Senate and the House leads to a full repeal of the IRA tax credits:

The wind, solar, and energy storage sectors jointly see a 17% drop in total new capacity additions over 2025-2035, with 927 gigawatts (GW) of cumulative build compared to 1,118GW in BNEF’s base case forecast. Wind sees the greatest fall in activity in this scenario with a 35% drop, followed by energy storage at 15% and solar at 13% relative to BNEF’s base case.

That’s a blow we can’t afford at a time when we need to reduce emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030 to avoid climate disasters becoming even worse than they already are.

But all is not lost. The clean energy market isn’t solely driven by federal policy. Over the last decade, solar, wind, and EVs have become more cost-competitive and popular. State policies play a huge role too, and many states are committed to their own clean energy goals regardless of who sits in the White House. States like California, New York, and Washington have ambitious targets to combat climate change, and deep red Texas is No. 1 in the US for both solar and wind.

Corporations are also key players. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Walmart have committed to going 100% renewable, and they’re not about to reverse course. This demand keeps the market for renewables strong. Plus, there’s significant public support for clean energy jobs, and renewables create more employment opportunities than fossil fuels in many regions of the country.

JD Dillon, chief marketing officer of California-based solar tech manufacturer Tigo Energy (Nasdaq: TYGO), said to Electrek, “The march toward renewable clean energy is both inevitable and the right thing to do. In a perfect world, we would eliminate partisanship from the renewable energy conversation because everyone benefits from a cleaner environment and affordable energy. Unfortunately, none of us live in said perfect world.”

The US clean energy sector may slow down, but it’s hard to stop a train that has already left the station. What consequences this slower-moving train will have for the US and the world remains to be seen.

Read more: Trump says he’ll end the EV mandate. The only problem: there isn’t one.


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CATL pushes forward with all-solid-state EV batteries

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CATL pushes forward with all-solid-state EV batteries

The world’s largest EV battery maker is advancing a new type of battery, promising higher energy density. According to a new local report, CATL is investing heavily while ramping up its workforce to bring all-solid-state EV batteries to market.

With trial production reportedly kicking off, we could see CATL launch all-solid-state EV batteries sooner than expected.

According to a new local report from LatePost (via CnEVPost), CATL has entered the trial production phase of 20 Ah samples. The news comes after the EV battery giant added over 1,000 workers to its R&D team this year.

The report claimed that CATL is now focused on the final Sulfide phase and has already commenced trial production of 20 Ah samples.

The company’s solution has an energy density of up to 500 Wh/kg for lithium ternary batteries, 40% more than current batteries. However, the report said charging speed and cycle life are not quite where they need to be.

At 20 Ah, the battery solution is finalized and ready for its next stage, production tech exploration.

CATL-all-solid-state-EV-batteries
CATL’s new EV experience center (Source: CATL)

CATL is advancing all-solid-state EV batteries

The report says after that it’s mainly manufacturing hurdles, that can be overcome with a bigger workforce.

In April, CATL’s chief scientist, Wu Kai, announced that the company had developed a verification platform for 10 Ah all-solid-state EV battery cells. Wu also said CATL aimed to produce all-solid-state EV batteries in small volumes in 2027, the first time the news was made public.

CATL-solid-state-EV-batteries
CATL launches Shenxing Plus EV battery (Source: CATL)

In September, the company’s chairman, Robin Zeng, said CATL’s research into the new battery tech was “second to none.”

Several companies, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and others, are betting on solid-state EV batteries as the future.

CATL-Super-hybrid-battery
CATL launches new Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery (Source: CATL)

According to data from CnEVPost, CATL is dominating the global EV battery market with a 36.7% share through September 2024.

China’s BYD is second with a 16.4% share of the market. BYD is also planning to launch solid-state batteries. At the September 2024 World New Energy Congress, BYD’s head scientist and engineer, Lian Yubo, said solid-state EV batteries could be widely used in five years.

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