European “heli-car” arrives hot on the heels of the American flying car

Posted on Apr , 10, 2012 by Ben Sampson

One of the transport innovations that people have sought for decades is the flying car, but engineers have repeatedly struggled to combine the aircraft and car in a viable way.

Up until now, that is. After much waiting, two flying cars have come along in the same week. First to be announced was US firm Terrafugia’s Transition, which last month flew at an altitude of 426 metres for eight minutes. The vehicle has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up. It has a top speed of 112 km/h on the ground and 185km/h in the sky.

According to Terrafugia, the Transition succeeds where previous attempts have failed because of its use of modern engines, avionics and composite materials. The company also set out to design a vehicle for pilots “that brings additional ground capability instead of attempting to make a car fly.”

You may question who would want such a vehicle now it is available, but around 100 people have already placed €7,500 deposits to receive a Transition when the first are produced.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Dutch company Pal-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) also reported the first successful test flights of its heli-car, which uses a rotor to fly and a propeller for propulsion on the ground. The one manned vehicle can be seen as the successor to the failed three wheeled vehicle the Carver , and uses the same tilting technology on the ground. The Pal-V has a top speed of 180 km/h on land or in the air, and has a 350-500km flying range.

Pal-V is looking for investors and says potential lead customers include the police, the military, and flying doctors, who have expressed interest in using the vehicle for surveillance, mobility, aid in post-war situations, and homeland security.

What is worth considering is how air traffic controllers plan to cope if personal air transportation takes off the way Pal-V and Terrafugia hope it will. Perhaps a question for Dr Michael Decker from European project MyCopter!, who is speaking at next month’s S&T Forum?

Grow your own aviation fuel

Posted on Mar , 30, 2012 by Ben Sampson

The aviation industry is attempting to reduce its environmental impact in lots of ways, but perhaps the largest steps towards sustainability are efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In the last five years the use of biofuels for aviation has gone from concept to reality. There have been dozens of test flights on large passenger aircraft. Last year, fuel with 50% bio-derived synthetic content was certified for aviation use. Such fuels will not require changes to aircraft or fuel delivery infrastructure.

Biomass sources include crops such the jatropha nut, the camelina grain and algae, and also municipal and forestry waste material and spent cooking oil. The aviation industry is also being careful to only develop biomass sources that will not adversely affect food, water and land supply.

However there remains many barriers to the widespread introduction of biofuels in aviation, not least the need to greatly increase the rate of biomass production and refining capabilities.

It’s therefore heartening to see airlines and aircraft manufacturers taking the initiative to develop supply chains for biofuels themselves. Most recently three major players in aircraft manufacturing, Boeing, Airbus and Embraer, companies that are bitter rivals in commercial terms, announced a partnership to develop “drop-in, affordable aviation biofuels,” that all airplane models could use, regardless of the make.

There are other interesting examples, such as British Airways’ plans to build a waste-to-biofuel plant in East London and Qantas’ plans to build its own biofuel production plant in Australia.

If the technology that enables biofuels to be used in any aircraft can be developed quickly, and sustainable biofuel sources developed responsibly, a turnaround in rising greenhouse gas emissions for the aviation sector can be effected sooner rather than later for the good of passengers, the environment and the industry.

Ford maps out road beyond 2025

Posted on Mar , 05, 2012 by Ben Sampson

Car maker Ford has outlined its vision of mobility beyond 2025 as an integrated transportation network and smart vehicles capable of fully autonomous navigation.

Bill Ford Jr., the great grandson of Henry Ford, presented the car maker’s vision for the future, called “Blueprint for Mobility” at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona in Spain earlier this week.

The plan details the technologies, partnerships and business models that Ford believes are needed over the coming years to avoid “crippling congestion” in transport networks because of the growth in car ownership. According to Ford, the cost of congestion to the economy in England through lost time owing to congestion will rise to around €26 billion annually by 2025. In Germany, sustaining a town of 300,000 people is estimated to require 1,000 truck deliveries daily.

The plan is split into three sections: near term (5-7 years), medium term (2017-2025) and long term (beyond 2025). Near term goals include the development of in-car mobile communications and vehicle to vehicle communications, the development of autonomous systems for parking and slow moving traffic and more car sharing services, such as Zipcar.

Mid-term, Ford wants to see more of the same – “auto-pilot” style car platooning, the integration of vehicle to vehicle communication with transport infrastructure, as well as more smaller one, two and three person “city” cars.

Finally, after 2025, Ford envisages a future transport network which prioritises saving time, conserving resources, lowering emissions and improving safety above all else, where bicycles, private cars, commercial and public transport are one big, happy integrated transport network.
The “blueprint” largely echoes what many other car makers are saying about the future of the automotive industry, and it’s difficult to disagree with its positive attitude to solving the challenges that society faces with transportation. The speech and press release can be found here.