Whenever futuristic scenes appear in films there are flying cars present. It is an image we have about how the future might be, but has the future finally arrived? Short take-off and Landing aircraft (STOL) have gained a lot of force over the past couple of years and also the ones that can be both a car and an aircraft.
Some of the companies that have developed prototypes of flying cars over the last couple of years are PAL-V, Terrafugia, Štefan Klein, AeroMobil and others. But let’s talk about AeroMobil, since they are ready to release to the market in 2023 their model AeroMobil 4.0! This a Slovak company has designed a prototype of a car that may go on roads and fly in the sky that has gone over 10.000 hrs of testing. It was first presented on the Paris Air Show in 2017.
The characteristics of this model, according to their site, are a hybrid propulsion system of 300 bhp with adaptative transmission for road and flight, a driving range of about 520 km and a maximum flying range of 740 km (depending on the occupancy), a road top speed of 160 km/h and a cruise speed of 260 km/h. It can transform from a road mode to flight mode in less than 3 mins with a required take-off distance of 400m. The development of this type of car was possible due its carbon-fibre body that allow to enormously reduce weight and the availability of powerful design and simulation tools. But what would be the big disadvantage of this great development? IT’S PRICE OF UP TO €1.5 MILLION.
The introduction of AeroMobil to the market may start the birth of new startups developing this kind of vehicle, and who knows, maybe we will actually be driving flying cars in the near future.