Ok the fact that this tech is being used to shovel piles of new cars around is not that solarpunk, but the technology itself certainly is.
I misread the title as Cat Carrier. I’m so disappointed 😞
Tall ships <3
This and solar zepplins please
If you were to give someone from the 1800s a newspaper clipping from modern day, I feel like this might be the one to give. They’d understand maybe just enough of the words to be thoroughly perplexed.
Obviously, they’d be confused by cars and everything, but they could probably be told, “like a carriage but futuristic.” I just don’t think they could understand, “we are trying to put sails on boats to cross the ocean”
I’ve idly wondered what a modern tall ship would look like. Forget timber, canvas and hemp, imagine the clipper we could build out of fiberglass, dacron and amsteel
This is a billionaires superyacht. So about the least solarpunk thing possible. But it honestly kind of looks cool.
As of 2018 when designed, it was expected that Black Pearl could cross the Atlantic using only 20 litres (4.4 imp gal; 5.3 US gal) of fuel, aided by regenerative technologies.[8][needs update] One key technology to support this is to use the speed of the vessel through the water under sail to generate electricity with a variable pitch propeller.[8] The yacht also features heat capture technologies and large scale storage batteries to capture energy generated but not immediately used.
Holy shit that is cool (and equally concerning and inspiring).
Under sea trials, Black Pearl achieved 20 knots of speed on the water, and its developers expected as of 2018 that it might one day be able to transit the Atlantic using no fuel.[8] In its first crossing, 5,600 nm from Montenegro to St. Barths in 2023, Black Pearl sailed approximately 80% of the distance and consumed 32,000 liters of fuel.
Well, that’s disappointing.
A traditional similar-sized yacht would have consumed 200,000 liters for the same passage.[19]
Oh, I guess it’s still a huge improvement, but what the fuck.
Also, how does it only have a capacity of 12? Does it only have sleeping capacity for 12 or can it somehow really not hold more people than that while on the water at over 100m in length?
Also, how does it only have a capacity of 12?
It is a floating palace and the family is probably no larger then 12. There will be a lot of crew on board. Also everything else you would expect on a place like Epstein Island.
As for the fuel, this could probably be done using batteries nowadays. Those have gotten pretty light.
It’d be triangular rigged if not better anyway. Square rigging is and was rubbish.
Really cool, what’s old is new again.
It is also cool how practical and actionable this tech seems to be, implementation is moving fast now in this area.
One might even say it is amusing how much this technology both is and isn’t a pipe dream.
I like it, but honestly I’m skeptical. I mean we’re talking a couple of wings moving metric tons! I’m guessing the ship starts of on engines and once it reaches the speed, the sails take over? I mean competition sails push really light crafts…not heavy ass bricks like this.
Nah it isn’t the main propulsion, it is opportunistic and reduces fuel costs, the efficiency gains add up very quickly however.
