Sea Cheetah and H3 Dynamics hope to create a hydrogen ecosystem. Credit: Sea Cheetah Corp.

A new hydrogen-powered wing-in ground effect vessel is under development, with the aim of connecting coastal and island communities.

Miami-based Sea Cheetah Corporation, which hopes to advance zero emissions transport solutions for coastal marine transport, has signed a partnership agreement with the Franco-US hydrogen propulsion firm H3 Dynamics to create the “Sea Cheetah WIGE”. 

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H3 Dynamics, which has offices in Toulouse, France and Austin, Texas will use its hydrogen propulsion expertise to build a hydrogen-electric powertrain for the Sea Cheetah craft. 

The platform is named after Sea Cheetah’s “Wing-in-GroundEffect” hull, which allows it to fly a few metres above the water and “leverage proven technology to travel in and outside of ground effect at speeds exceeding 135knts (250 kph / 155 mph)”. 

Because the “aircraft” flies at under 50ft (15.2m), it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the US Federal Aviation Administration, and instead the company is working with maritime authorities to ensure the WIGE complies with the International Maritime Organisation’s WIGE ship classification (MSC.1/Circ.1592).

Taras Wankewycz, CEO of H3 Dynamics explained what the company would bring to the project. 

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“Our hybrid hydrogen-powered powertrain enables Sea Cheetah’s WIGE vessels to achieve range and payload capacities that were not possible before with batteries, creating more applications and usability for such vessels in different parts of the world,” added Taras Wankewycz, CEO of H3 Dynamics. 

The vessel flies a few metres above the water. Credit: Sea Cheetah Corp.

The partnership will also deploy small, decentralized green hydrogen production systems named Sea Cheetah H2Hub™ and H2Hub Micro™ modules, to support rapid fueling and quick vessel turnaround, according to the new partners. 

Serge Markoff, founder and CEO of Sea Cheetah explained how the lighter aircraft powertrain would allow the vessel to better complete its core mission of zero emission last-mile delivery to isolated communities. 

“By combining our two companies’ advanced technologies into one platform, Sea Cheetah vessels will now be able to carry 3 times more payload than competing air- and watercraft, 10 times faster than boats, and 10 times more fuel efficient than aircraft.”