I fail to see how an electromotive system will be more efficient than just having the engine turning the properly sized blowers directly.
The propulsion system doesn't look efficient at all.

Useless unless on water as the dirt spray will just come up and into the cockpit and onto anyone standing within 30-50 or so feet!!
And try to move one of these on water without the air lift and likely ruin it as the drag is so high.
I built a fairly good one with a very experienced hovercrafter/builder and was surprised how useless they were except the few places where they shine like swamps, shallow water, etc little else can go.
What we really need are ground effect trains and Wing In Ground Effect/WIGE/WIG flying boats.

Sounds about as likely as this other pie-in-the-sky concept. http://news.discovery.com/autos/vw-hovercraft-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-the-jetsons-110615.html
I suspect the two boys are being a little naive. There are any number of small personal hovercraft and In-Ground-Effect craft available, most already proven and in operation. Still, good luck to them, specially if they can do it for $20k!

not sure where the hate is coming from.
A: it has a cushion. This keeps spray and dirt from coming up into the cockpit. Proven tech, been done for a LONG time. LCAC's give a bit of spray, but then they're hundreds of tons and need a LOT of air inflating their cushion. . . for small ones, not so much. B: a hybrid means the electric motors will run at need. It looks (from sketches and pics) like the main hover-prop is powered by the motor and the maneuvering props are run by electrics. It looks like a nice idea.
I've seen them on grass, pavement, dry lake beds (sand), etc. and they go well. Their main problem is maneuverability - which this is trying to address. . .

First insurmountable problem... sudden stops. Every car needs to be able to stop in a hurry. Turning is an issue too.

@warren52nz Where's the brake pedal on my boat then?

This could work but not with any electrics which require at least 4 car size battery's for twin 28 Lb electric motors (e-Tec) Plus the generator of equal or more hp output than the motors! Electrics on flying things are a non starter for any useful range because of the weight penalty. If it was all gas motors it might work with very highly loaded props, but like all hovercraft the prop noise will make it unacceptable near populated areas. It should be outlawed to promote any untried prop designed craft as "Quieter" when they have offered no reason for that attribute. When the noise problem is solved Hovercraft will become popular and sales will drive innovative designs.

Make it look like a Star Wars landspeeder and they'll have a bunch of orders.

Looks good, great idea, the only change I would make is to have a vertical fan in the back. Make it variable pitch so it could increase both forward speed and, reverse thrust for slowing down faster.

re; warren52nz
Deflate the cushion. screeeeech.