Live data from Hacker News

Regent – Electric coastal travel

regentcraft.com

261–270 of 333 posts

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my city you can definitely tell a difference in the demographics that frequent places that have train access vs those without. The malls for example: Malls with train access tend to bring a lot of kids strutting around flexing (as kids are expected to do). This has side effects of petty larceny and shootings. All of the mall shootings are groups of these kids that have beef with each other. It's mostly harmless to…

It's interesting to me that you've figured out that people bring up gun control whenever you talk about this, but you haven't made the next logical leap. Which is to say, there may be a _reason_ people bring up gun control. As you say "You can't just hand wave it away".

I just think that practically speaking, a community will probably be able to decide on a train project before the nation decides on gun control.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To skip TSA nonsense you just need to skip TSA nonsense. Outside of the US airtravel is still relatively similar to rail. You have to be on time, you have to handle the baggage, but you can walk through xray and security within minutes and only need to show the ticket on your phone. An electric wing-in-ground-effect aircraft still looks like an airplane and might still fall under the same regulations as any other air…

> Outside of the US airtravel is still relatively similar to rail. I live outside the US and this is laughably wrong. How can you collapse the entire world down to "outside the US". Israeli airports are exactly the same as Zimbabwean airports in your worldview? I live in SE Asia and no country around here has air travel "like rail". I cannot get through xray and security in minutes. I cannot just show a ticket on my…

I assumed your parent commenter was referring to domestic air travel.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#263
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my city you can definitely tell a difference in the demographics that frequent places that have train access vs those without. The malls for example: Malls with train access tend to bring a lot of kids strutting around flexing (as kids are expected to do). This has side effects of petty larceny and shootings. All of the mall shootings are groups of these kids that have beef with each other. It's mostly harmless to…

> This has side effects of petty larceny and shootings. All of the mall shootings are groups of these kids that have beef with each other. It's mostly harmless to shoppers but there's always a chance you could get caught in crossfire or become the target of a malicious youth prank. As an outsider (from an European country): I don't think train access is the cause here :O It's like saying "We should seed rain clouds b…

I agree that correlation is not causation but it's tough to ignore when you see the packs of kids walking to/from the train

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, at their stated range of 160nm, you're looking at only getting as far as Big Sur before the entire craft needs a recharge - it's much more aimed at island and port hopping, I suspect, than long distance travel. Still, I am excited to see ground-effect vehicles/ekranoplans back in vogue!

With today's tech you're spot on. As batteries advance though, we expect ranges closer to 500 miles by the end of the decade, which would indeed enable SF LA!

3x increase in battery capacity in the next 7 years seems rather optimistic to me. Are there any specific battery advancements in the development pipeline that you know of?

How are you managing battery degradation, especially given that you're planning for high charge rates with quick turnaround? Do you have an idea of how many pack replacements you'll need over the lifetime of the rest of the aircraft?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad weather usually means big waves as well, so that complicates "just go slower" particularly when it comes to the foil mode. This is what's killed the practicality of previous ground effect aircraft but perhaps they've found the right niches for this one.

Previous ground effect craft absolutely were killed by their poor wave tolerance. That's where our hydrofoils come in. 5ft of wave tolerance through the harbors and in takeoff and landing. Means we can operate with very high confidence and high utilization in most markets.

You mentioned not needing reserve energy because you're able to land anywhere along the flight path. Does that mean you can safely land and float in waves higher than 5ft, even if it isn't necessarily pleasant for passengers or good for the vehicle?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To skip TSA nonsense you just need to skip TSA nonsense. Outside of the US airtravel is still relatively similar to rail. You have to be on time, you have to handle the baggage, but you can walk through xray and security within minutes and only need to show the ticket on your phone. An electric wing-in-ground-effect aircraft still looks like an airplane and might still fall under the same regulations as any other air…

> Outside of the US airtravel is still relatively similar to rail. I live outside the US and this is laughably wrong. How can you collapse the entire world down to "outside the US". Israeli airports are exactly the same as Zimbabwean airports in your worldview? I live in SE Asia and no country around here has air travel "like rail". I cannot get through xray and security in minutes. I cannot just show a ticket on my…

In Australia domestically,you can show your QR code on your phone or print the ticket at home (or even use the kiosks at the airport to print it out). You still need to pass through one set of security screening, but expect the queue (away from holidays and peaks ) to be around 15 minutes.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#267

I was initially skeptical, but seeing Mokulele Airlines (an airline serving Hawaii) flash by on the carousel made me consider that this might have at least some real-world uses. It's insane to me that the vast majority of inter-island travel in Hawaii (an archipelago where generally each island is visible from the next) is via jet aircraft. You have to spend hours (especially if you're checking bags) getting to the a…

Why not make an electric Superferry? Presumably addresses the environmental issues, more forgiving on battery weight and volume than a plane and won't ever need to make an emergency landing.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#268
post #267

I was initially skeptical, but seeing Mokulele Airlines (an airline serving Hawaii) flash by on the carousel made me consider that this might have at least some real-world uses. It's insane to me that the vast majority of inter-island travel in Hawaii (an archipelago where generally each island is visible from the next) is via jet aircraft. You have to spend hours (especially if you're checking bags) getting to the a…

Why not make an electric Superferry? Presumably addresses the environmental issues, more forgiving on battery weight and volume than a plane and won't ever need to make an emergency landing.

Ferries in littoral waters and whales don't mix. There is a ferry that goes from NS to Maine and it's been known to bash a whale or two.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#269

Hey guys - Billy Thalheimer, Co-founder and CEO of REGENT here. A friend reached out to say this is blowing up - so cool! (Thank you beefman lol) Here to answer any questions

Will you target Philippines market ? With more than 7000 islands, they could definitely benefit from it.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#270
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my city you can definitely tell a difference in the demographics that frequent places that have train access vs those without. The malls for example: Malls with train access tend to bring a lot of kids strutting around flexing (as kids are expected to do). This has side effects of petty larceny and shootings. All of the mall shootings are groups of these kids that have beef with each other. It's mostly harmless to…

> This has side effects of petty larceny and shootings. All of the mall shootings are groups of these kids that have beef with each other. It's mostly harmless to shoppers but there's always a chance you could get caught in crossfire or become the target of a malicious youth prank. As an outsider (from an European country): I don't think train access is the cause here :O It's like saying "We should seed rain clouds b…

There's a bridge in stockholm that isn't getting opened because people in the rich neighboorhood on one side don't want people from the poor neighboorhood on the other side to come there.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/26/stockholm-bridge-row-exp...

Post reply on HN