Terrafugia flying car was founded in 2006 by five outstanding MIT graduates, and its vision is to change people's travel mode and living environment. On 20 17165438+10/7, Lee Tae flying automobile became a subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, until Lee Tae Automobile announced its TF-2A prototype this year. Judging from the official introduction, it may not be far from the dream of driving to the sky.
The dream of flying cars that lasted for more than one hundred years.
The dream of flying cars has almost run through the history of automobile development for more than one hundred years. Since the invention of the automobile, people have been dreaming of taking it to the sky one day, and modern flying cars are expected to become a reality from the means of transportation in science fiction. As early as 184 1 William? Samuel? Henson (William? Samuel? Henson) and John? Stern filo (John? String? Fellow) brothers invented the related technology of single-wing flying car, and it can be said that the earliest idea of flying car has been tried; 1947165438+1October, the model made by Conville company? 1 18 flying car was confirmed after testing in California. During the planned one-hour flight, the vehicle and wing were seriously damaged due to lack of fuel. Fortunately, there were no casualties. 1966, Aero-Car used folding wing technology to manufacture the first car that can be used for both land and air. The speed of the prototype can reach 96km/h on land and 177km/h after taking off.
-Slovak flying car Aeromobil, rear folding wing
Aeromobil Slovakia has been focusing on developing flying cars since 1990. After 30 years of development, Aeromobil? The prototype of 2.5 successfully made its first flight on 20 13; In 20 14 years, the company designed? The design concept is to be as similar as possible to the car on land, including volume, speed and fuel consumption, so as to realize the conversion between air and land. Aeromobil？ 3.0, and widely evaluated as the most likely flying car, was unveiled in Vienna and tested in June 5438+ 10 of the same year; 20 17 AeroMobil officially launched? Aeromobil？ 4.0. The first batch of private car owners will be delivered in 2020. Aeromobil？ 4.0 You can switch from car mode to airplane mode within 3 minutes. The cruising range in car mode is 62 miles, and the maximum cruising range in airplane mode is 466 miles. It uses ordinary gasoline fuel instead of aviation fuel and can refuel at ordinary gas stations. At present, this flying car has accepted the reservation, and the pre-sale price is 1.2 million-1.5 million euros.
-Dutch PAL-V rotor "flying motorcycle" Liberty
Liberty, a three-wheeled flying car designed and manufactured by PAL-V company in the Netherlands, is a personal flying car that combines a single-seat hybrid car and a rotorcraft. Freedom successfully made its first flight on 20 12, and started production in may of 20 14. Reservations have been accepted now. The first flying cars are expected to be in? 20 18? Delivery at the end of the year. Freedom? Flying cars are mainly made of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, titanium and aluminum. It is a flying car, which has a dual-power propulsion system, three wheels and two rotor blades, and is equipped with a rotary engine that uses gasoline (biodiesel or bioethanol can also be used) as fuel. This engine has good fuel economy.
PAL-V has excellent air and land combat capability. It takes about 10 minutes to turn from air to land. When driving on the ground, its rotor, propeller, tail and other pneumatic components are in a folded state, which can be transformed into a three-wheeled vehicle, and excellent turning performance can be achieved by tilting the body. This patented automatic tilt control technology is a patented technology of PAL-V company, which can automatically adjust the tilt angle like a two-wheeled motorcycle to achieve flexible steering and minimum turning radius. Freedom looks like a helicopter, but its driving force mainly comes from the propeller behind the cockpit. Liberty is equipped with a 230-horsepower four-cylinder gasoline engine, with an acceleration time of only 8 seconds per 100 kilometers, a top speed of 180 km/h and a fuel tank capacity of 122 liter, which can support 350 km flight or 1200 km land driving.
It is reported that free-flying cars have passed the road and aviation-related safety management regulations in the United States and Europe. In addition, in order to lock in potential customers, PAL-V has established the first flight driving school in North America in Roosevelt, USA on 20 16. It is hoped that ordinary people who can drive flying cars in the future can obtain ordinary motor vehicle driver's license first and then pilot's license.
Write to the end
The "four hurdles" that flying cars have to face are: the basic dynamic performance contradiction in performance+the need for linear taxiing for take-off and landing+the serious influence of the weather. In terms of cost, the flying car fuselage is made of carbon fiber composite and titanium alloy, which is very expensive. In terms of approval, both on the road and flying need to be approved by the regulatory authorities and legal departments of various countries, so more procedures will be needed. In terms of skills, drivers and controllers are very demanding, and they need to have a pilot's license and a car driver's license. Looking forward to the future, getting rid of horizontal sliding, vertical lifting+automatic driving is still the general trend.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.