All-electric flying ferry that could come to Lake Tahoe aims to reduce traffic

KOVR

By Dominic Garcia

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    LAKE TAHOE (KOVR) — A new flying ferry may be coming to Lake Tahoe. It’s all-electric and can cut across the lake in a fraction of the time.

It’s a popular playground year-round and if you’ve been up there you know that Tahoe has a traffic problem.

“So I’ve been thinking of solving this problem for over a decade,” Ryan Meinzer, founder and CEO of Fly Tahoe, said.

Meinzer thinks a possible solution is this—America’s first electric flying ferry. Currently, the only other one in operation is in Stockholm, Sweden.

“This advent of combining flight technology with what’s called hydrofoils are essentially wings underwater,” Meinzer said. “So they operate under the same fluid dynamics as an airplane’s wings to create lift.”

That means lift above the water and above the ways.

“This allows us to be 10 times more operationally efficient and with that operational efficiency gain, we’re able to propel the craft with batteries,” Meinzer said.

Meinzer is looking to ferry people across the lake in 30 minutes when most others can take over an hour and a half. The goal is to do five round trips a day, clearing congestion and maybe even making living in Tahoe more affordable.

“So there are many people who would like to live in South Lake Tahoe but work in north Lake Tahoe, but they’re not going to drive an hour and a half, two hours to do that,” Meinzer said.

Meinzer is still working with local and federal officials to get this vessel on the water. But if he does, he thinks it will not only help clear the roads but keep Tahoe blue.

“We are perfectly aligned with that statement and with that mantra,” Meinzer said.

Meinzer says the cost of a ride on the ferry will be around $50 each way. He’s hoping to have it in the water in late 2025 or early 2026.

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