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From a boyhood dream to a reality, this high-performance, all-electric thrill ride takes personal watercraft to the next level.
In this era of technological innovation, an all-electric hydrofoiling personal watercraft was inevitable. California-based tech startup Valo has introduced a two-person electric foiling PWC the manufacturer says delivers a super smooth ride in chop, excellent range, and the exciting flying experience unique to foiling craft. The Valo Hyperfoil also promises operating the vessel will be easier than it appears thanks to proprietary active stabilization software.
Ed Kearney, Valo’s founder and CEO, says he’s bringing to life an idea he’s held since childhood when his father showed him a video of an early foiler.
“I was about 12 or 13 years old, and my dad – who was an inventor kind of guy – showed me this video of some MIT students who had built a pedal-powered hydrofoil boat that broke the world record for a human-powered boat because it was so efficient,” Kearney says. “I remember asking myself, why aren’t all boats like this?”
Twin foils and a 45-kW drive motor canpropel the craft to 35 knots.
Twin foils and a 45-kW drive motor can propel the craft to 35 knots.
Born and raised in Australia and studying engineering before moving to California seven years ago, Kearney couldn’t shake the idea of “a technology that can completely revolutionize how we transport things on the water by making them 10 times more efficient and incredibly comfortable at the same time.”
He noticed that there was not much in the way of commercial hydrofoil development. “So I said,’ Why don’t we just do this?’ I wanted to create something no one else was making, because it was captivating, and the world needed it.”
Retracting foils make Hyperfoil transportableon a standard trailer.