Inside the NAVEE WaveFly 5X: China’s Electric Boat-Airplane Hybrid

At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, a company best known for electric scooters stole the show with something unexpected: a two-seater vehicle designed to fly just above the water’s surface. That concept is now a reality. On June 4, 2026, Chinese mobility company NAVEE completed the first real-world flight of its WaveFly 5X on Lake Tai in Wuxi, China, marking a milestone as the world’s first consumer-oriented wing-in-ground-effect craft .

The WaveFly 5X looks like a cross between a jet ski and a seaplane, but its operating principle is fundamentally different from either. It uses ground-effect aerodynamics — the same physics that let the Soviet Union’s massive Lun-class “Caspian Sea Monster” ekranoplans skim the water at hundreds of miles per hour. By trapping a cushion of compressed air between its wings and the water surface, the WaveFly dramatically cuts induced drag, allowing it to glide smoothly as low as 30 centimeters above the water or climb up to a maximum height of 1.2 meters .

From Scooter Company to Aviation Pioneer

NAVEE’s core business has been premium electric scooters and personal mobility devices, but the company is now aggressively expanding into what it calls an “all-scenario intelligent mobility” ecosystem spanning land, water, and sky . The WaveFly 5X is the water component of that vision — a recreational vehicle that NAVEE’s Chief Product Officer Wang Yaozhang described as capable of multiple modes including water-skimming flight, surface gliding, and floating docking .

At its CES 2026 unveiling, the vehicle was shown only as a display model, and Autoweek described it as “a very fun two-seater recreational vehicle” directly inspired by the old Soviet ekranoplan concept . The subsequent Lake Tai flight proved the design works in the real world .

How Ground-Effect Flight Works (And Why It Matters)

Wing-in-ground (WIG) flight is not vertical-takeoff eVTOL technology and not conventional seaplane flight. The vehicle never climbs out of ground effect. Instead, it rides on a high-pressure air cushion that forms naturally between the wing underside and a flat surface — in this case, water. This aerodynamic phenomenon slashes energy consumption compared to free flight, allowing the WaveFly to achieve useful range on battery power alone .

Because it operates within roughly 1.2 meters of the surface, the craft stays below typical aviation altitudes, which NAVEE argues will mean far fewer regulatory hurdles than a private aircraft. It requires no runway, no airport, and no pilot’s license, taking off and landing directly on any open body of water such as a lake, bay, or wide river .

WaveFly 5X Specs and Features

NAVEE has released detailed specifications across multiple product debuts and press events . The numbers have been reported consistently:

• Top speed: 85 km/h (53 mph)
• Cruising speed: approximately 30 km/h
• Maximum altitude: 1.2 meters above the water
• Minimum cruising height: as low as 30 centimeters
• Range: up to 160 km (100 miles) on a single battery charge, though some earlier sources cite a more conservative 80 km operational range
• Weight: 73.6 kg including the high-modulus carbon-fiber cockpit
• Payload capacity: approximately 140 kg (309 lbs), accommodating a pilot and one passenger
• Power: four high-power electric motors with a combined peak output of 32,000W
• Construction: high-modulus carbon fiber cockpit, redundant flight control system

The 3-Minute Battery Swap

One of the WaveFly’s most practical innovations is a modular hot-swap battery system. Instead of waiting hours to recharge, users pull up to a dock and replace the entire battery pack via a standardized interface in under three minutes. A single swap supports up to 140 minutes of continuous flight time, effectively eliminating range anxiety for recreational use .

Custom-Built to Order

NAVEE has signaled that the WaveFly 5X won’t be a mass-produced, one-size-fits-all product. Android Police reported from CES 2026 that each vehicle will be built to the buyer’s preferences, with choices for color, storage configuration, and seating — either one or two seats . An estimated price tag of $99,999 was mentioned, though the company noted final pricing would be set per order .

Why the WaveFly 5X Is Significant

1. First Production-Intent Consumer WIG

Wing-in-ground vehicles have existed for decades as military prototypes and experimental industrial craft, but never as a product aimed at private buyers. NAVEE is the first company to take a WIG vehicle through a public reveal, an untethered maiden flight, and into pre-order availability as a consumer product .

2. A Practical Middle Ground

For coastal and lakeside communities, the WaveFly offers a middle option that didn’t previously exist. It’s much faster than a conventional boat over medium distances — NAVEE claims it can compress a multi-hour boat trip into “a dozen minutes” — while avoiding the turbulence, licensing, and infrastructure that come with small aircraft. Because it operates entirely over water at low altitude, it also has a natural safety buffer: a motor-out scenario simply means gliding down to the surface, not falling from hundreds of feet .

3. A Proof Point for China’s “Low-Altitude Economy”

The WaveFly 5X fits squarely into China’s broader push to develop a commercial low-altitude economy — a policy direction that has already produced dozens of eVTOL startups, delivery drones, and “flying car” prototypes. A recreational water-skimming vehicle may be a niche product today, but it validates a new vehicle category that regulators and insurers can now begin to address .

4. Real Hardware, Not a Render

By completing a live, untethered flight on an open lake, NAVEE moved past the concept stage that traps many ambitious mobility startups. YouTube reviewers who visited the company’s booth confirmed that working prototypes already exist and pre-orders are being accepted . For a category as exotic as consumer wing-in-ground flight, that’s a meaningful distinction.