All-Electric "Flying Car" Takes First Test Flight in Germany

[Megalith]

I don’t know why there is an obsession with flying cars, since most people can’t even drive let alone pilot, but here is another company that is trying to make the futuristic cliché come true. The Lilium Jet is capable of taking off and landing vertically, which is actually pretty nifty, I guess, and it uses the same battery as those found in Tesla vehicles.

In a video provided by the Munich-based startup, the aircraft can be seen taking off vertically like a helicopter, and then accelerating into forward flight using wing-borne lift. The craft is powered by 36 separate jet engines mounted on its 10-meter long wings via 12 movable flaps. At take-off, the flaps are pointed downwards to provide vertical lift. And once airborne, the flaps gradually tilt into a horizontal position, providing forward thrust. During the tests, the jet was piloted remotely, but its operators say their first manned flight is close-at-hand.

 

[Elios]

2 words "Failure Modes" FAA will never approve it

 

[Dead Parrot]

Didn't see any 'jet' engines. Looked like a collection of ducted fans.

2 words "Failure Modes" FAA will never approve it

Getting an 'Experimental' certification is fairly easy. And this type aircraft would be a perfect match for a recovery parachute system. With a reasonable price tag, could make a good kit build craft.

 

[nilepez]

Why? 186mph! Make the range 400-500 miles, and you've got a serious winner (if it becomes affordable).

 

[grtitan]

I don’t know why there is an obsession with flying cars

Maybe is engraved in our brains, given that for a long time, everyone was saying that the flying car was going to arrive in the year 2000.

In a city like nyc, i can see a use for this, when you need to bypass traffic, but yes, as you said, the piloting part is the real setback, since so many dont know how to drive, less pilot.

The only way i see this happening, is if they are completely autonomous.

 

[Spidey329]

Didn't see any 'jet' engines. Looked like a collection of ducted fans.

It's electric. I'm pretty sure they used the word "jet engine" as a stand in for ducted fan because it sounds cooler to people who don't know.

 

[Briteball]

where is the car mode at?

 

[Twisted Kidney]

This is a really cool concept, it makes you realise how far we will go when we solve electrical storage and generation for small, mobile applications.

where is the car mode at?

With VTOL the only reason to have a car mode would be for a racing-rim enthusiast. I think "car" refers more to the passenger cabin and body style than the actual operation of the vehicle.

 

[DrLobotomy]

Yea, 30,000 of those flying around LA or NYC would be a major clusterflubb unless they had some kind of automated path they follow in congested areas.

No way could the general public just buzz around the city without death abundant.

I still want one.

 

[shspvr]

Why? 186mph! Make the range 400-500 miles, and you've got a serious winner (if it becomes affordable).

That not bad and average speed of a small plane like a Cessna 182 is just under that with cruising at 160 mph

 

[Krenum]

Impressive. Will you need a pilots license to operate one?

I'm holding out for one of these,

 

[Inu]

Could totally see autonomous flying electric vehicles being the future for trips less than 25 miles long.

Solar panels / technology are improving every year..
Along with batteries.

It's inevitable.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Yea, 30,000 of those flying around LA or NYC would be a major clusterflubb unless they had some kind of automated path they follow in congested areas.

No way could the general public just buzz around the city without death abundant.

I still want one.

Honestly, I think the "flying car" will have to be autonomous.

 

[Wrecked Em]

I'm holding out for my personal dirigible.

 

[Bearsahrk]

The video doesn't demonstrate the Bernoulli's Principal at all. Wing area not enough to support actual flight unless (and I guess) it was moving at great speed.

Just an expansive drone with a single point of failure.

just saying

 

[nilepez]

Honestly, I think the "flying car" will have to be autonomous.

I agree, though I can imagine it having it has enough tech to where driving it will largely work like driving a car. Maybe going up and down is button push and crashes are avoided by radar and GPS, though that'd require some communication between vehicles and we'd certainly have to worry about hacks (but presumably they'd build that into them from day one...no reason not to.

 

[Ducman69]

The problem with private aviation is not that there aren't already a plethora of great designs available, its the two huge barriers to entry:
1) Massive investment in training needed, and huge number of regulations accordingly.
2) Huge cost of aircraft, in part due to lack of demand meaning there is no economy of scale (a Ford Mustang would probably be $250K+ if made in as low a quantity as aircraft are).

So what we need are idiot-proof at least mostly autopilot aircraft that require far less training to operate, that can take off and land outside of airports, and cost under $100K new. And quite frankly, we don't have the technology for that yet.

The closets that we've come to that, that I know of, is the ICON in that you don't necessarily need an airport (also has folding wings so a large garage is sufficient for storage) and everything about it has been designed for ease of flight and to be as forgiving and safe as possible, but its still hugely expensive and requires a pilots license:


Vertical takeoff and landing is overrated IMO, as people will learn that it requires a massive amount of energy to accomplish and reduces the payload or requires way more power than would otherwise be necessary for good performance. They learned this with the Harrier back in the day, and do rolling takeoffs whenever possible to increase payload and reduce fuel burn.

 

[Prisoner849]

So a big, hollow drone then?

 

[Loose Nut]

"In a city like nyc, i can see a use for this"

What happened on the 14th floor !???...they had a drive by shooting!
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Totally reminds me of the ships from the TV series "V"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086822/

 

[EchoWars]

We believe in a world in which everyone can fly anywhere, anytime.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Vertical takeoff and landing is overrated IMO, as people will learn that it requires a massive amount of energy to accomplish and reduces the payload or requires way more power than would otherwise be necessary for good performance. They learned this with the Harrier back in the day, and do rolling takeoffs whenever possible to increase payload and reduce fuel burn.

VTOL is everything for a daily-flyer. The entire concept falls apart without VTOL. The whole point of electric craft is the efficiency of the energy, it's hundreds or even thousands of times more efficient than infernal combustion and turbines. Of course the storage of electricity sucks balls though. If you beat the storage (or if I dare dream on-board generation) of energy VTOL is easy to work out and it's the only logical way to build any aircraft.

 

[Ducman69]

VTOL is everything for a daily-flyer. The entire concept falls apart without VTOL. The whole point of electric craft is the efficiency of the energy, it's hundreds or even thousands of times more efficient than infernal combustion and turbines.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

To your first comment, the form of energy storage doesn't have any bearing on the fact that VTOL is massively energy inefficient. Whether its fossil fuel or battery or whatever, if your flight takes say 100K joules of energy to get from point A to point B, but 50K joules is used exclusively for takeoff and landing, that is massively wasteful.

Secondly, I mentioned power requirements, and if you only need say 150hp for your craft for decent performance, but 600hp to be capable of vertical takeoff and landing, again you are now having to build a power system that far exceeds your normal flight needs, which generally means more weight and reduced efficiency for level flight.

Lastly, electric aircraft are MANY MANY MANY times less efficient than internal combustion engine. You are confusing chemical efficiency with weight and volume efficiency. A three foot by three foot 50 pound aviation fuel tank will provide far greater energy output than same size and weight of even expensive lithium battery with current technology. That means that VTOL with the same performance envelope will be even less likely than with ICE, since the poor efficiency of batteries from a weight and size standpoint will mean the plane will already be overburdened with fuel, unless it has virtually no range or payload to compensate. But since range would already be drastically reduced in vertical takeoff and landing, that's something you can't afford.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

This couldn't be further from the truth.

Snip for brevity.

I'm not expecting it next week, you misunderstand. Kerosene will get you somewhere from 15-50 Watts for every kW you have in the tank. Electrical power will get you from 700-900W for every kW you have in the batteries. I get that right now batteries suck, no argument there, your 50lb fuel tank probably stores millions of time the energy of a 50lb bank of batteries. One day they won't, they might even be replaced a generator (reactor?) on board. All of a sudden the horrible inefficiency of the turbine as a limiting factor in aircraft design is gone. Electric motors are superior in every single metric to combustion engines, especially in manufacturing costs and power scales. The cost doesn't explode for more power like it does with turbines. Probably more importantly, cartels (real cartels, not imaginary green cartels, they even call themselves "oil cartels") have aggressively suppressed the advancement of fossil fuel engines. Efficiency costs them money, the technology is utterly stagnant. Battery research is break neck because batteries are in everything, the massive number of applications for constantly improved batteries guarantees the death of internal combustion. Gas engines are big, heavy, inefficient, and fragile. You can't power a phone with a gas motor without turning it into a ten pound novelty. You can damn sure power a car with a battery.

I guess that's the difference between myself and the green-washed masses, I don't think we need to use less energy. I think we need to generate vastly more energy cleanly. When you can store or generate vast reserves of energy on-board the vehicle, you can design for function alone. VTOL is functionally superior to not-VTOL.

 

[Ducman69]

I'm not expecting it next week, you misunderstand. Kerosene will get you somewhere from 15-50 Watts for every kW you have in the tank.

Yeah, but that's what we call "theoretical efficiency", which no one really cares about.

All people care about is how many extractable watts can fit into a box yay size and yay weight. In that respect, the efficiency of aviation fuel is really great, and batteries are super piss poor.

For example, they have LSAs out now that use just 2 gallons per hour, which is about 12 pounds of fuel per hour of flight. A 12 pound battery would probably be out of juice by the time you are done taxing and applying full throttle to take off.

The other nice thing about that, is say you're just going for a short trip, well in that case just put 100 pounds of fuel in the plane, and you have more weight for extra payload or just better efficiency from being lighter.

The other nice thing is that lets say you ARE going on a long trip, well you can fill both your fuel tanks to the max, and while it may be very heavy on takeoff, if you plan it right when you land you'll be say 200 pounds lighter which makes it easier to land.

With electric, you have to have full weight (which is higher than ICE to begin with) all the time, and when you land, even when the batteries are depleted its still heavy as fuck. A lot of fail.

And trust me, I want electric planes to work, because one of the big problems with general aviation is that the planes sit for a long time, and with an electric plane that's a non-issue. With an ICE plane, you gotta remember to go out and fly at least once a month, or you end up having all kinds of problems, and its more maintenance and cleanup in general (bottom of our plane gets a light oil misting which is annoying to clean).