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Flying cars aren't and won't ever be viable because of fuel consumption. We're already worried about ordinary cars in this regard.
by bigbacaloa 4y ago
Flying cars aren't and won't ever be viable because of fuel consumption. We're already worried about ordinary cars in this regard.
- vidarh 4y agoThere has always and will always be a high end of the market, and that high-end will pay extra irrespective of fuel/electricity consumption. So in the sense that they'll likely never replace "ground cars", you're right. But that does not mean there won't be some space for them. The far greater problem for eVTOL companies than energy use is noise and safety which for the medium term at least will exclude them from the most attractive end-to-end options and prevent them from being a real car-replacement option. E.g. Lilium originally touted themselves as a sort of "flying Uber" on the basis that it could in theory land almost anywhere. But they dialled it back on the basis that being able to is very different from being allowed to e.g. land in a residential area without a dedicated, secured platform and following all kinds of regulations on both noise and safety. Now, they're instead focusing on partnerships (e.g. with Ferrovial for Florida[1] and Saudia for Saudi Arabia [2]) willing to operate networks of what they call "vertiports", so more of a replacement of a segment of helicopter services than cars. [1] https://lilium.com/newsroom-detail/ferrovial-and-lilium-develop-us-vertiport-network https://lilium.com/newsroom-detail/ferrovial-and-lilium-deve... [2] http://www.tradearabia.com/news/TTN_402471.html http://www.tradearabia.com/news/TTN_402471.html
- bigbacaloa 4y agoThere will never be a regulatory framework in which flying cars are allowed in urban airspace/ground space except perhaps in certain very special locations (like Saudi Arabia and maybe Florida) where there is rule of the rich rather than rule of law.