All Electric Flying Car
California based group Alef Aero is working towards having a 2-seat flying car, the Model A, on the market in late 2025, selling for USD$300,000.
Alef also plans for a Model Z, 4 seat flying car with a longer range, available in 2035, selling for $35,000. We have seen this drop in price before with Tesla, as more models are produced, and development costs decrease.
The Alef Aero group of 4 men with engineering and technology experience came together in 2015 to develop a modern solution for both urban and rural transportation needs in the 21st century. They have been testing driving and test flying a full-size prototype since 2019.
Alef is the first letter of many alphabets and has been used by this group to signify a leading position.
The 100% electric flying car is intended for street driving and with forward flight capability, it has a driving range of 200 miles, 320 kilometres and a flying range of 110 miles, 170 kilometres.
It is a vertical take-off and landing VTOL vehicle, with no exposed propellers for safer operation, dampening of the sound, and for saving space.
The cabin with the two seats is gimbaled, meaning it stays stable and with driver and passenger facing forwards, as you would in a car or a plane, but the car body moves into a sideways, vertical position as the car transitions into forward flight.
The car body is mesh, not solid, to allow air to flow through, and contains 8 fans to give lift for VTOL and contains wings to enable more efficient forward flight. The wings are hidden within the body.
The flying car has many safety features which include obstacle detection and avoidance, glide landing, and full-vehicle ballistic parachute.
In July 2023 Alef Aeronautics received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for the Model A. It is a limited certification to ensure safety during development, limited in location and for what purpose, that is for test flights.
This is an exciting new car which we may see on our roads and in the air in the next few years.
Flying cars also raise other questions.
Vertical take-off fans will create strong winds that would be potentially dangerous to pedestrians, as such, will the take-offs and landings be limited to launch sites, like helicopters?
Drones are quite noisy; will the Model A have a high noise level? Again, limiting its use to designated launch sites.
Autonomous flight for the safe continuation of testing was introduced by Alef in 2019. Will future models be capable of self-driving and self-flying?
An autonomous flying car could take its occupants into a city, landing at a designated VTOL site for its passengers to go to work or recreation, then the car could fly back to its departure point in the suburbs. There it can park in a parking space as would a traditional land vehicle, until it is summoned back into the city.
Would designated flying car fly zones or corridors be established in city and urban areas, potentially above existing main roads, or direct to high visitation sites?
Note: I have no affiliation with Alef and have written this summary article from their website to encourage the climate change mitigation potential of flying cars. That is, less built infrastructure such as roads and bridges for example, and the greenhouse gases produced by concrete.
Although for the climate’s benefit we would be better if cycling or walking, but that will not address every situation, we need to examine all possibilities.
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