[NorthMountain]

The electric WIG vessel shown here has its motors out in the open

Those motors look they're in nice sealed pods. And you know perfectly well that electrical systems have been operated successfully on ships for over a century. There are plenty of reasons why this electric ekranoplan is little more than a toy. The fact that it's electric and operates in a salt-water environment is not one of them.

[Yo-Yo]

You and I can agree that this "electric ekranoplan" is a joke, a toy, and a money sink for anyone stupid enough to invest in it. In my opinion any fully-electric aircraft on a commercial passenger scale is a non-starter until there is a massive breakthrough in energy storage technology.

But if you watch the quarter scale tests, the motors appear to be standard RC "outrunner" electric motors without the farings shown in the mockup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka1GpNGdjXM

And if the concept reaches the full scale stage, the motors will need to be air cooled because of weight considerations. Azipod electric motors and other such applications have the luxury of accommodating the extra weight and bulk associated with a closed-loop liquid cooling system using heat exchangers to transfer heat into the sea water.

The same tech is used for ocean-going diesel and gas engine cooling.

An aircraft or any "ekranoplan" can't afford the added bulk and weight of a closed loop liquid cooling system with a liquid to air heat exchanger.