Fast-Forwarding to the Future of On-Demand Urban Water Transportation

Project Information

SeaBubble

Grant agreement ID: 774086

DOI

10.3030/774086

Project closed

EC signature date 6 May 2017

Start date 1 May 2017

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SEABUBBLES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SeaBubble (Fast-Forwarding to the Future of On-Demand Urban Water Transportation)

Reporting period: 2017-05-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In this market feasibility study that was carried out in Apr-Nov 2017 we have assessed the commercial & market feasibility of SeaBubbles hydrofoils, as well as the economic & financial feasibility of our project.
We have arrived at the following major results:

- Based on both chamber worldwide data analysis and field studies that we conducted in some cities directly with our SeaBubbles teams and with YouGov partner in Lyon, Paris, London, Geneva and Amsterdam—we have measured the potential for on-demand city water transportation.
- We identified the specificities of B2B market and B2C markets both in distribution models and product specifications.
- SeaBubbles service implementation depends highly on speed regulations and dock locations to impact on environment, transportation quality and economic activity.
- The business model has been refined with operators and local authorities to come up to a viable solution both for SeaBubbles, operator and end client.
- SeaBubbles identified, met and negotiated with many partners to identify the best options for both product supply (batteries, motors, foils, composites) and R&D (CFD, modelling, energy).

Even if some challenges are still there – for speed regulation in some countries, for instance – our analysis shows the service is commercially viable.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In this feasibility study we have:

- Selected target EU cities with a sufficient water to total area ratio & dense water-facing urban districts within 10 min walk from water
- Assessed the impact of SeaBubbles deployment on congestion, air pollution and accessibility
- Assessed the market potential for the auxiliary segment
- Prepared the go-to-market strategy for deployment of SeaBubbles
- Validated & confirm the business model fit for SeaBubbles
- Finalized the selection of partners for the electricity production, storage & other equipment for the docks & hydrofoil vessels
- Ran an exhaustive freedom-to-operate analysis
- Calculated the prices for SeaBubbles usage
- Calculated the production costs for SeaBubbles, docks and the infrastructure for the water taxi app
- Assessed additional commercial & technological risks

We have also carried out in-depth surveys of individual highest potential cities and included 2 case studies in our report

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In this feasibility study we have revalidated and confirmed the market potential and the business opportunity for our SeaBubbles hydrofoil as an on-demand urban water taxi. We have also identified the need for larger types of hydrofoil vessels (such as buses) which we will explore further.

We will start commercialization by setting up the trial case implementations of SeaBubbles in the cities of Paris, Geneva, Lyon Helsinki or Amsterdam in 2018-2019. We will also seek to secure a SeaBubbles pilot implementation in a non-EU city. We will seek to validate SeaBubbles hydrofoils both in scenarios of inner urban waterways (such as the river or canals) and outer (such as the lake or a seashore).

For this purpose, we will pursue an application for the SME Instrument Phase 2 grant in Jan 2018 to industrialize the technology, solve the current technical issues and drive the production costs down from current price per prototype.
We have secured preliminary interest from 3rd party investors to further invest into SeaBubbles should we succeed with our SME Instrument Phase 2 application.

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