Ecotricity boss Dale Vince, 61, powered across grass with ease during its latest test at the Bicester Airfield in Oxfordshire.
Dale said: “We haven’t yet got it into water, that’s going to come next.”
The supporter of the Express’s Green Britain Needs You campaign has been wanting to build a hovercraft since he was a child.
He said: “When I was a kid, I wanted to make a hovercraft. I got a book for the library at school, and I learned all of the fundamentals of a hovercraft.
“And I figured I could build one, and I could go to school in it and that was my crazy idea. I didn’t have any money. So I couldn’t get the bits but I really wanted to build one.”
The British Hovercraft Company approached Dale in 2021 with an offer to buy one.
But Dale said he would be interested only if the craft was electric.
The vessel could be used for search and rescue operations, as well as helping to rewild seagrass.
Dale said: “I was talking to people doing seagrass rewilding which is really exciting. I mentioned the hovercraft to them and they said that could be the perfect thing for collecting seeds because they have to go into the severn estuary which is tidal mudflats.
“And you can get out there in a conventional boat very easily. So suddenly, what started as a bit of fun had a real purpose that was in rewilding, which is great.”
Seagrass meadows support an incredible array of biodiversity but they have disappeared at a frightening pace.
Estimates suggested as much as 92 per cent of the UK’s seagrass has been lost but restoring it is vital for ocean health.
It is hoped that Sea Shepherd UK, a non-profit marine wildlife conservation organisation, will be using the craft as early as next year for marine protection projects.
