Australia's Electro Nautic (Enautic) started life with the promise of an all-electric hydrofoil jet ski it called the world's first. The company then moved on to refine its foil design into a two-person mini-boat. It seems like it never completely abandoned its original vision of an eFoil PWC, though, now revealing the fully revamped WaveFlyer Rogue jet ski. The new vessel blends elements from the WaveFlyer Volaré mini-boat into a single-seat foiler that promises to "redefine what a personal watercraft should be."
Electric hydrofoil boards have started to feel quite commonplace, but the e-hydrofoil jet ski market is still rather young and sparse. The eFoil personal watercrafts we have seen hit the market tend to be two-person sit-in mini-tenders like the Volaré or Quadrofoil Q2, or sit-atops set on oversized multi-hulls. Those that actually resemble a classic sit-on jet ski have been bogged down in plodding development runs. Or nearly forgotten, like Enautic's.
To be clear, the WaveFlyer Rogue still hasn't actually moved past development stage. In fact, the Rogue looks less developed than Enautic's last attempt at an eFoil PWC, seeing how it's just a bunch of fanciful renderings and theoretical figures. But Enautic's digital debut this week at least suggests the company still has an electric foil PWC in its thoughts and plans.
We suppose that's the good news. The bad news: While the WaveFlyer Rogue looks all kinds of fast and techy in those renderings, it shares a somewhat disappointing 25-mph (40-km/h) top speed with its bigger, less-fast-looking brother. That top speed looks okay on a little two-seater boat, but the Rogue will have to compete for the same hearts and minds currently fixated on the 40-mph (64-km/h) Valo.
Then again, the Valo's top speed has already rolled backward on the speedometer once, so who knows where the production model will land. Plus, its midsize luxury car-level price tag leaves Enautic loads of room to undercut.
Getting back to the bright side, Enautic seems to be directing its electric tuning toward more time on the water instead of all-out speed. It estimates a range up to 67 miles (108 km) and a runtime of around four hours, much better than the one- to two-hour ball-and-chains often wrapped around electric water toys – or the 30 minutes Enautic was quoting for its original 2019 foil jet ski prototype.
Recharging can happen in as little as 40 minutes, according to Enautic, meaning you could get back out on the water in the time it takes to grab lunch, so long as there's somewhere to plug in nearby.
The Rogue shares Enautic's patented W-foil layout with the Volaré, which the company says offers a mix of reliable stability and improved agility on the water. It uses a larger and more connected hardware configuration than other hydrofoil watercraft, setting an anhedral foil between two long side beams, each with an electric drive pod drive at its end.
On the water, the foil lifts off at a speed of 9.2 mph (15 km/h), rising to a height of 3.3 feet (1 m). The redundant sensor-loaded flight control system works to maintain a safe, smooth ride.
Vertical side struts secure the foil system to the hull and are used to raise and lower it at the touch of a button. Pulling the hydrofoil system up keeps it out of the way so the Rogue can slide on a beach or trailer and safely navigate shallow waters.
That's about all Enautic is saying about the WaveFlyer Rogue at the moment, but we'll stay tuned for more details and hopefully some proper prototype testing footage. In the meantime, this new video of the WaveFlyer Volaré towing a Flamingo foil boarder should prove worth a minute and a half of your day.
Source: Electro Nautic
