Getting around a big city bottled up by air, at the expense of a taxi. This is the promise of “flying cars”. If in the 50s science fiction movies no longer saw us move except in these strange machines, in 2022 flying cars are no longer a utopia. Experiments multiply to find the best business model.
a chariot with wings
For several years, various companies around the world have been working on these “flying cars”, a concept that encompasses very different machines both technically and stylistically. In fact, several vehicles are similar to very large drones that can carry humans, others are reminiscent of a car with wings. This is the case of the Aircar. This car looks like the flying cars we saw in the movie. The fifth element.
It was created by the Slovak company Klein Vision and has already flown more than 70 hours in test flights as well as 200 takeoffs and landings. In January 2022, the Aircar even got an airworthiness certificate from the Bratislava Transport Authority. The machine is a true hybrid, capable of driving on the road and then taking off if necessary, like a small plane. A track 300 meters long is enough for it, once its wings develop on each side and a drift unfolds at the rear.
This transformation is automatic and controlled by a single button. According to its manufacturers, it only takes 3 minutes for the car to spread its wings and thus be able to fly. The Aircar can fly at 170 km/h at an altitude of 2,500 meters, thanks to a 1.6-litre BMW engine.
Klein Vision is waiting to receive aircraft type certification to begin commercial operation of its Aircar. Its purchase price could reach between 600 and 700,000 euros.
Paris, the first city to receive flying taxis?
The main objective of the companies that develop these small flying vehicles today is not to sell them to individuals but to put them at the service of collective mobility in cities. Like authentic flying taxis, sometimes autonomous and if possible electric.
Far from the AirCar, the eVTOL – electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, which can be translated into French as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft – are intended for this type of use. These concepts are the closest to large drones or small helicopters with many propellers.
Among the companies that are developing this new type of flying taxis are the Chinese company EHang or the German Lilium. The UK also wants to launch its own flying taxi service.
However, perhaps the most successful experience is taking place in France, in Paris. The German company Volocopter, in association with the ADP Group (formerly Aéroports de Paris) and the RATP, wants to launch its own fleet of flying shuttles for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
race price
With these flying taxis, Paris will become one of the first cities in the world to use this new means of transport. Called “Volocity”, these flying taxis will allow flights at an altitude of between 200 and 350 meters at an average speed of 80 km/h. The eVTOLs should fly over the French capital to transport spectators from point A to point B, taking off from specific infrastructures: the “Vertiports”. ADP will thus ensure the construction of this new type of infrastructure, an opportunity for future development for the company.
Before being able to fly over Île-de-France for the Paris Olympic Games, the Volocities should obtain EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification in early 2024.
“The price of the races for 2024 has not yet been set,” specifies ADP.
Eventually, in 2030, ADP would like to be able to bill its races for a price equivalent to that of VTCs.
Source: BFM TV
