Photo: Ego
In our quest to find the watercraft contraptions best suited to be brought under the spotlight, we come across a wealth of weird stuff. And at the top of the list of weird things are submarines – not the ones the militaries of the world use, but the ones made for recreation purposes.
From tourist-dedicated subs to personal underwater machines, we’ve seen it (almost) all since we kicked off our Sea Month coverage at the beginning of August. Or, that’s what we thought, until we stumbled upon the Ego.
Ego is a South Korean company created back in 1997 by a guy named Jisup Lee. As stated on the company’s website, its goal was to “get everyone to easily enjoy the underwater environment,” but that didn’t happen until 2008, when the first compact semi-submarine was released. What happened from there is anyone’s guess.
At the time of writing, there are two such submarines listed in the company’s offering, the Ego SE and Ego LE. We have a bunch of details on the SE, and some of these things have even made it into the real world, now selling on specialized websites like My Submarine. The LE, on the other hand, was supposed to be released in 2013, and that's all we know.
As said, you can find some Egos for sale, if you know where to look. They’re rather cheap, compared with most of the other watercraft we discuss here on autoevolution, selling for just $53,000 – that’s less than some very high-profile cars out there.
The Ego can seat a party of two in its underwater bubble. It’s a submerged cabin of sorts, located in the middle of the construction, with panoramic viewports on three sides, with the rearview restricted.
The fun part about this is that you don’t have to go through complicated training to operate the Ego. Or at least that’s what we’re told, that five minutes are enough to learn how to operate the thing. And you also don’t have to wear complicated suits, with regular bathing suits being all that’s needed.
Up above the waves, and supporting the pod, is a double floating hull complete with a swimming platform. It helps the pod stay close to the surface, and also acts as a place to rest under the sun, after hours of underwater fun.
The entire contraption is powered by electricity, can only reach a top speed of 3 knots (3.5 mph/5.6 kph) at half load, and has a runtime of just eight hours.
All in all, the Ego might not be as complicated or pretentious as some other personal submarines we’ve seen over the month, but we reckon it gets the job of entertaining tourists with underwater trips done.
Ego is a South Korean company created back in 1997 by a guy named Jisup Lee. As stated on the company’s website, its goal was to “get everyone to easily enjoy the underwater environment,” but that didn’t happen until 2008, when the first compact semi-submarine was released. What happened from there is anyone’s guess.
At the time of writing, there are two such submarines listed in the company’s offering, the Ego SE and Ego LE. We have a bunch of details on the SE, and some of these things have even made it into the real world, now selling on specialized websites like My Submarine. The LE, on the other hand, was supposed to be released in 2013, and that's all we know.
As said, you can find some Egos for sale, if you know where to look. They’re rather cheap, compared with most of the other watercraft we discuss here on autoevolution, selling for just $53,000 – that’s less than some very high-profile cars out there.
The Ego can seat a party of two in its underwater bubble. It’s a submerged cabin of sorts, located in the middle of the construction, with panoramic viewports on three sides, with the rearview restricted.
The fun part about this is that you don’t have to go through complicated training to operate the Ego. Or at least that’s what we’re told, that five minutes are enough to learn how to operate the thing. And you also don’t have to wear complicated suits, with regular bathing suits being all that’s needed.
Up above the waves, and supporting the pod, is a double floating hull complete with a swimming platform. It helps the pod stay close to the surface, and also acts as a place to rest under the sun, after hours of underwater fun.
The entire contraption is powered by electricity, can only reach a top speed of 3 knots (3.5 mph/5.6 kph) at half load, and has a runtime of just eight hours.
All in all, the Ego might not be as complicated or pretentious as some other personal submarines we’ve seen over the month, but we reckon it gets the job of entertaining tourists with underwater trips done.
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