After all the teased products that didn't live up to their promises and the trouble caused by self-balancing scooters, ArcaBoard appears to be the closest we'll get to an actual hoverboard in 2015. Designed by the US-based Arca Space Corporation, the mattress-shaped vehicle packs 272 horsepower and is propelled by 36 ducted fans spinning at 45,000rpm. Buying one will set you back about £13,500 ($19,900).

Arca has begun taking pre-orders for ArcaBoard and promises to start shipping it to customers in April 2016. The device's speed is limited to 20km/h (12mph) and its flying height to 30cm (1ft). It's powered by a set of Li-Po batteries that account for a significant part of its price: getting a new battery pack after the 1-year warranty has expired will cost you £4,600 ($6,840).

There are two versions of the device: one for riders that weigh up to 80kg (176lbs) and another for riders up to 110kg (242lbs). The lighter option can hover for six minutes, the heavier just three minutes. The lighter rider can theoretically travel up to 2km (1.2mi) on one charge.

After the batteries run flat, it takes six hours to recharge them using the supplied charger, or just 35 minutes if you buy a special dock station for another £3,000 ($4,500).

Arca allows customers to replace any damaged part by themselves after ordering it from the factory. "Opening the ArcaBoard will not lead to the loss of warranty," it states in the FAQ.

While looking a bit awkward and unwieldy even in the promo videos, ArcaBoard is said to be able to hover over any terrain, including water and uneven surfaces like rocks or rail tracks.

Probably the biggest concern about the vehicle is the huge amount of noise it would probably make while floating around. None of the videos released by the company seem to keep the original audio track. Ducted fans are known to be quite loud, and to bear the sound of 36 of them you might need some ear protection. Presumably we'll have to wait until shipments start in April to see how loud it is.

In the future, the company has a grand vision of making the hoverboards ubiquitous. “In the years to come, when we’ll be able to drop the price of this technology and also when we’ll be able to increase the performance, this for sure could become a vector for mass transportation,” Dumitru Popescu, the founder of Arca Space Corporation, told The Huffington Post.

Initially founded by Popescu as an NGO in Romania in 1999, Arca has a proven track record as an aerospace company, with contracts from the Romanian government and the European Space Agency. It has launched two stratospheric rockets and four large-scale stratospheric balloons and is currently working on unmanned aircraft and suborbital manned rockets.