The Innovator: Foil Drive HIGH POWER MAX BATTERY & HIGH POWER MOTOR

Foil Drive recently unveiled their new “high power offering”, with a new High Power MAX Battery and a High Power Motor which, combined, significantly increases runtime, thrust and power of the existing MAX systems. With an app upgrade too which allows existing users to tap into extra power in the MAX system, well, let’s just say there’s a whole lot of grunt to be had. We spoke with CEO & Chief Designer, Paul Martin, to find out where all this power is coming from…

So, if we understand this right, as part of a group of High Power upgrades, you’ve just made the MAX battery even more max, right?

The MAX High Power Battery is purely designed to give the user the maximum possible battery capacity that can fit in the Gen2 architecture. Runtime is something that is important to a lot of riders and, as battery tech improves, higher capacity battery cells become available.

Battery technology is always improving, so it's about trying to find a good medium between improved capacity, availability and performance and obtaining a reasonable price point to make the end product cost effective. You can think of the new MAX High Power Battery as a MAX Power, plus 19% more capacity, no additional weight or size! Add the new High Power Motor to that and the MAX system sees huge advancements.

For the electronically clueless out there, can you explain how you’ve achieved this from a technical perspective? We’re assuming the voltage stays the same but it can deliver more current?

In the simplest term possible, we've achieved this by using a battery cell that has a higher capacity and is at the leading edge of what is currently available. Just because you have more capacity doesn't mean you produce more power… Power is derived from how many amps you consume, multiplied by voltage (amps x volts = power). So, if someone buys a MAX High Power Battery it doesn't necessarily mean that they have to draw more power from it. Through the app, you can adjust the power and you will simply get a longer run time from that battery.

You can however turn up the boost to +28% (128% throttle) with this battery and draw more power than any other battery in the range. So, in summary the battery is the same voltage, but has a higher capacity so it will run longer. Given its extra capacity, we have chosen to unlock even more boost that in turn produces more thrust. Like anything there are always limits, as it discharges towards the lower end of its charge, it will start to lose overall thrust as the voltage continues to drop. The extra power and thrust that you can generate at the start of the full battery will slowly degrade throughout the session as the battery voltage drops. It doesn't matter what battery you use, ALL batteries have the same effect – as they lose charge, their voltage drops and their ability to deliver maximum power output drops as well.

How did you manage to fit it into the same form factor as the existing Max Power Battery (we’re assuming you can still use Nose Cone A?), and is the battery the same weight?

Yes, you can still use the same A Nose Cone as the overall dimensions of the new MAP High Power Battery are almost identical to the current Max Power. As discussed before, technology improves over time and the energy density of batteries globally is constantly going up and we're simply tapping into a different range of cells to chase more capacity, more runtime!

There’s a new High Power Motor to match the battery. Talk to us about the technical changes.

The High Power Motor and its effect is very different to the MAX High Power Battery.  The battery is responsible for providing stored energy to the motor, the motor is what consumes the energy and tries to turn it into useful thrust. The more efficient the motor you use, the better, because it means you get to consume energy and turn it into useful thrust more efficiently than a motor that is less efficient. This mentality and process applies to nearly everything that is motorised and in life you always chase a balance. You can have higher efficiency motors and less efficient motors but quite often they're coupled with differences in mass, cost, size, materials and other factors that you need to carefully choose between to try and find the optimum.

In reality the High Power Motor provides an outcome of more thrust and more power, but technically speaking, these benefits come from high torque and better efficiency. That's a bit of a mouthful, but effectively through adding 10mm of length, it's allowed us to install longer magnets and more copper windings inside of the motor which directly results in the ability to produce more torque. This additional torque means the motor can spin the same propellers, with the same hub, at the same RPM for less power consumption OR it can produce a higher RPM for the same power consumption and produce more thrust.

We take it this has a fair bit more grunt, but how much? Is the propeller system and rotor the same or revised?

The High Power Motor has approximately 20-25% more “grunt” than the current Standard Motor. It utilizes the same propeller hubs and propellers, all you have to do is upgrade your motor to get the added benefits.

Talk to us about the backwards compatibility of the new components. Can you use the new battery or motor with the existing offerings or are they best served as a complementary dish together?

The High Power Motor can be used on any MAX or Slim system, so long as the rider has the V2 Motor Architecture with removable cable and V2 Puck. As for the MAX High Power Battery, this can be used with the Assist MAX with charging both on the 40V Standard and Fast Chargers. Backwards compatibility is super important to us, making sure that the Gen2 system grows up with us, not grows old. This allows customers to unlock new potential, without needing a whole new system! We like the idea of the Gen2 system getting better over time, like a Tesla it gets more features and a better user experience over time versus just aging once you leave the dealership, like a normal car.

Combined, what are the most significant benefits these upgrades offer to the rider out on the water?

Realistically the combined effect of both of these products allows the user to have a longer session time on the water through increasing the efficiency of the motor and additional battery capacity. Riders can push the envelope of how much further and longer they can ride for, or unlock smaller boards and smaller wings than before. It would be nice if we could simply do this by magic but unfortunately we still live in the physical world and to make this possible sometimes you need to change hardware and chemistry to get those added benefits.

Combined with the extra 19% capacity of the battery, the High Power Motor improving efficiency by 20-25%, and the extra 4% Boost, this technically means up to 45% increased runtime and should be quite a significant upgrade. While technical statistics are very important, we’ve already had our riders reporting extended runtimes within this data when comparing like for like gear, conditions and use case. Now that’s something to get excited about!

Plenty of recessed FD specific ‘trench’ boards are coming to the market imminently. What’s your opinion on them and do you have any long term plans to augment the system to enable easier battery access?

We have been playing around with trenched boards for quite some time. If you're all in on Foil Drive and it is what you want to do predominantly, a trenched board is just that next level of optimization and fun factor that you can bring to your overall session experience. The trench has many positives and a few compromises to consider. Increased runtime is evident due to the reduction in drag. You get a more direct feel with your feet as the center of mass gets pushed closer to the center of the board and you can experience easier take off, which basically results in the ability to drop down a full wing size immediately, no extra power needed. Touchdown when you come off foil is also smoother, improving the overall rider experience.

The compromise of the trench is that you do have to remove the unit to replace a battery, however some shapers have designed a longer trench to avoid this. The board is also only for Foil Driving, so using it for anything other than Foil Drive needs to be considered… but you only live once so I wouldn't spend too much time dwelling on that!

In testing, I personally think the overall benefits are fantastic and the negatives associated with the trench I believe are negligible considering the added benefits you get in return. That being said, we have developed the very smooth and sexy Split Bolts which allow you to remove and install a Gen2 with ease. I believe it's just as easy to install and remove a Gen2 with these new Split Bolts as it is to install a normal mast without a Foil Drive. With the Split Bolts in a trenched board I can replace a battery with my little power tool in about 60 seconds. On average with the trenched board versus a non trenched board I get approximately 10 minutes more session time due to the reduction in drag/power draw/increase in efficiency. The way I see it, you get 10x the run time back for the inconvenience of a slightly slower battery change. I would rather trade a few minutes on land for many more minutes on foil in the water. People have asked questions about what type of drag does a big cut out in the board produce. From our testing and experience using them, you can actually feel a reduction in drag. Realistically, once you're off the water's surface, the board is almost irrelevant anyway. 

You’re working on multiple collabs with other brands now. Are we going to see a lot more of these joint projects? And how do you choose a brand to collaborate with?

We are working with a lot of brands globally to implement Foil Drive into their ecosystem as we believe the synergies of Foil Drive and other brands working together is only a good thing for the community as it gives more riders more choice. There’s also a lot of brand loyalty in foiling, so it’s nice for riders who have a favourite brand to be able to enjoy their Foil Drive with a curated product that complements the system. We recognise there are plenty of brands around the world that are at the top of their game when it comes to making foils, boards, masts and accessories. We really enjoy working with these brands to combine our talents and skill sets to produce an epic product combination so we will continue to work with as many brands as we can as they each offer something truly unique to the community.

Choosing which brands to work with can be a little bit difficult sometimes, but on balance, as long as they have good fundamentals, a clean and respective track record, ideas for discussion and our values and visions align, the end product is going to be amazing.

Finally, you guys have been at the spearhead of assisted tech since its inception. How hard is it to keep innovating, and is there more to come yet?

We invented the Foil Assist and created the market for it as its own category and we fully intend to maintain our dominance. We have no intention of taking our feet off the gas when it comes to innovation and improving a product line and we have a lot of exciting things on the drawing board. That all being said, we are mindful that we want to have a practical product rollout timetable as these units are a bigger investment for customers and shouldn't change as frequently as people are used to seeing wings and masts change in the market. It's a balance between maintaining product relevance and future proofing the product range based on customer requirements and desires. I think the biggest thing we can divulge is that we're working on more choice for customers with a more diverse price range to enter the assisted market. A classic example is the High Power product range. It's an advancement in battery tech and motor design to give people more runtime and thrust, something they have been asking for, but our riders are not forced to buy the new hardware. These are just product updates, there will be more products to come in the future to give a wider range of choice to individual customers and we can’t wait to share more as we continue to push this industry in new ways… Just like we’ve already done.