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Flying cars UNDERWAY as NASA and Boeing work on technical marvel
9 April 2019 | https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/771058/nasa-boeing-flying-cars-nature-study
FLYING cars like those depicted in The Jetsons cartoon is the future for longer journeys, a study has found.
ENERGY EFFICIENT: Airbus and Italdesign's car (Pic: NC)
In the 1960s sci-fi animation, the Jetsons zoomed about in family-sized airborne vehicles.
Aerospace companies, including Airbus and Boeing, as well as NASA, are now working towards making flying cars a dream come true.
The VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) prototypes are driven by small and efficient electric propulsion units.
Now researchers have investigated how practical electric flying cars would be in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
THE FUTURE: Airbus and Italdesign's proposed flying car (Pic: NC)
They conclude that for trips longer than 35 kilometres (22 miles), flying cars would out-perform their road vehicle counterparts.
Senior scientist Gregory Keoleian, director of the Centre for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, US, said: "To me, it was very surprising to see that VTOLs were competitive with regard to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios.
"VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example."
Dr Keoleian's team used computer simulations to compare the efficiency of conventional cars and flying ones.
Although an electric flying car would produce no greenhouse emissions during flight, its batteries would require electricity generated at a power plant.
AIR TAXI: The flying car could beat traffic jams (Pic: NC)
Taking this into account, the study showed that for trips of 100 kilometres (62 miles), a flying car carrying a pilot and three passengers was greener than a fuel-burning road car.
Emissions linked to the flying car were 52% lower than those for fuel-burning cars and 6% less than for electric cars.
The scientists analysed the five phases of flight - take-off hover, climb, cruise, descent and landing hover.
They found that flaying cars used a lot of energy during take-off and climb but relatively little as they cruised at 150mph.
As a result, they were most efficient on long trips dominated by cruising flight.
For shorter trips – anything less than 22 miles – single occupant electric vehicles outperformed flying cars.
Co-author Jim Gawron, also from the University of Michigan, said: "The trips where VTOLs (flying cars) are more sustainable than gasoline cars only make up a small fraction of total annual vehicle-miles travelled on the ground.
"Consequently, VTOLs will be limited in their contribution and role in a sustainable mobility system."
However, flying cars used as part of a ride-share taxi service could be valuable in congested cities and for longer journeys, said the authors writing in the journal Nature Communications.
9 April 2019 | https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/771058/nasa-boeing-flying-cars-nature-study
FLYING cars like those depicted in The Jetsons cartoon is the future for longer journeys, a study has found.
ENERGY EFFICIENT: Airbus and Italdesign's car (Pic: NC)
In the 1960s sci-fi animation, the Jetsons zoomed about in family-sized airborne vehicles.
Aerospace companies, including Airbus and Boeing, as well as NASA, are now working towards making flying cars a dream come true.
The VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) prototypes are driven by small and efficient electric propulsion units.
Now researchers have investigated how practical electric flying cars would be in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
THE FUTURE: Airbus and Italdesign's proposed flying car (Pic: NC)
They conclude that for trips longer than 35 kilometres (22 miles), flying cars would out-perform their road vehicle counterparts.
Senior scientist Gregory Keoleian, director of the Centre for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, US, said: "To me, it was very surprising to see that VTOLs were competitive with regard to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios.
"VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example."
Dr Keoleian's team used computer simulations to compare the efficiency of conventional cars and flying ones.
Although an electric flying car would produce no greenhouse emissions during flight, its batteries would require electricity generated at a power plant.
AIR TAXI: The flying car could beat traffic jams (Pic: NC)
Taking this into account, the study showed that for trips of 100 kilometres (62 miles), a flying car carrying a pilot and three passengers was greener than a fuel-burning road car.
Emissions linked to the flying car were 52% lower than those for fuel-burning cars and 6% less than for electric cars.
The scientists analysed the five phases of flight - take-off hover, climb, cruise, descent and landing hover.
They found that flaying cars used a lot of energy during take-off and climb but relatively little as they cruised at 150mph.
As a result, they were most efficient on long trips dominated by cruising flight.
For shorter trips – anything less than 22 miles – single occupant electric vehicles outperformed flying cars.
Co-author Jim Gawron, also from the University of Michigan, said: "The trips where VTOLs (flying cars) are more sustainable than gasoline cars only make up a small fraction of total annual vehicle-miles travelled on the ground.
"Consequently, VTOLs will be limited in their contribution and role in a sustainable mobility system."
However, flying cars used as part of a ride-share taxi service could be valuable in congested cities and for longer journeys, said the authors writing in the journal Nature Communications.
