Design

This hybrid solar-powered yacht can drive on land

The hybrid yacht has a payload elevator for your Cybertruck.

Pierpaolo Lazzarini's Pagurus or Crabmaran solar-powered yacht
Pierpaolo Lazzarini

Italian designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini keeps making a splash with his aquatic designs. His latest concept yacht is a partially solar-powered amphibious vehicle that can traverse muddy or sandy terrain. For just shy of $30 million, “Pagurus” can be made to order, according to Designboom. Often drawing on zoology in his designs, from swans to sharks, this "Crabmaran" is a relatively reserved concept hell-bent on destroying land.

Aquatic virtue-signaling — Solar energy is still hard to rely on, but an entirely reasonable way to supplement a diesel-gobbling yacht’s power. Lazzarini doesn’t provide specifics for the yacht’s shield of solar panels, but metal cylinders in the underwater parts of the hull work to recharge the ship’s batteries while in motion. On their own, however, they can only propel the catamaran at a maximum speed of 5 knots while the diesel engines get it up to about 25 knots.

The cylinders, designed similarly to the threading of a screw, can lower and allow the ship to hit about 22 mph on land. Of course, the process would undoubtedly wreck whatever ecosystem it travels over, but at least the obscenely wealthy could find a sweet spot to do a little off-roading.

The Pagurus can accommodate up to 12 people — eight guests and four crew members. Each side of the catamaran can be configured to house bedrooms or living areas. The bridge and a massive elevator sit on the spacious main deck of the ship. In a two-for-one deal, the ship renders use a Cybertruck for both scale and clout. The elevator can lower jet skis, a full dining set, and yes, a couple of Cybertrucks.

In addition to standard yacht white, the ship can come in a crab-like orange and black.

There’s even an unsettling “war machine” version, presumably for governments, supervillains, and the inevitable class war.