Left: Transition
TerrafugiaRight: Maverick
Photo: I-Tec
Vehicles that can be both driven and flown have long been a fantasy. However, flying cars could be available to the general public as early as next year. Some of the concept vehicles were recently on display at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in the Midwest state of Wisconsin.
Aviato
r Steve Saint comes from a flying family. His father was a pilot in South America, where Saint spent much of his childhood."I grew up down in the Amazon jungle in the country of Ecuador where there are no roads, and down there, you either fly or you die," he said.
Saint is the founder of a company called "Indigenous Peoples Technology and Education Center," or "I-Tec," which serves people in remote areas isolated from most technology.
To get him in and out of some of the roughest terrain on the planet, he turned to an old concept - a flying car. Saint's innovation is called the "Maverick."
"This is primarily a car, but you can also fly it, and it only takes a couple of hours to master the flying," he said.
The Maverick can travel at speeds up to 150 kilometers per hour on a traditional roadway. When it deploys a wing, that looks something like a parachute, it takes off, and can travel up to 100 meters in the air at 65 kilometers an hour.
"People in frontier areas, humanitarian use, mission use, that's our primary focus, but we need to find a commercial market in the United States" he said.
Chief Operating Officer Anna Dietrich of the aircraft company "Terrafugia" believes there is a market in the U.S. for her company's experimental concept vehicle, called the "Transition."
"We want to show that the same vehicle platform can fly, can drive, can fold up its wings in a reasonable amount of time under a minute, and you will be able to park it in your garage," she said.
Although the Transition and I-Tec's Maverick are still experimental concept vehicles, both have also achieved flight during testing.
Both are considered major innovations toward bringing the flying car out of the imagination and onto the highways and runways. However, some pilots and aviation enthusiasts are less than excited about the current design concepts.
"They will never be a really neat-looking car, and they will not be a real efficient airplane" says John Monnett, the founder of Sonex Aircraft, which is developing an electric-powered sport airplane. He says the flying car concept still has major technological and aesthetic hurdles to overcome. "It's a novel idea, and time will tell really. When you mix the two, what do you get? Something that's mediocre."
Dietrich says Terrafugia is moving forward into the next phase of developing the Transition. The first commercially available Transition is scheduled for delivery in about 18 months, and the cost to purchase the flying car when it hits the market is estimated at about $200,000.
adapted VOA News
Electric Car: Nissan's Leaf or GM's Volt?
The Volt, G.M.’s Plug-In Car, Gets a $41,000 Price Tag
GM VoltDETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday put the base price of its Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in car capable of driving about 40 miles on battery power without using gasoline, at $41,000.
The price is substantially more than the starting price of $32,780 for the Nissan Leaf, a fully electric car that will go on sale in December.
Nissan LeafG.M is taking orders for the Volt, using the Web site www.getmyvolt.com, to direct consumers to participating dealers in selected states, including California, Michigan and New York. They will begin receiving the vehicle in November.
The carmaker will also lease the Volt for $350 a month, hoping to attract consumers who want lower monthly payments or who won't buy the vehicle until they are more comfortable with its technology.
Joel Ewanick, G.M.’s vice president for United States marketing, said that the Volt’s 1.4-liter, range-extending engine makes it “a better value” than Nissan's vehicle. Nissan’s Leaf will have a range of about 100 miles on a fully charged battery, but it does not have a backup power source. The Volt’s engine will require premium fuel and will give the car a range of about 340 miles, Mr. Ewanick said.
Jesse Toprak, vice president for vehicle trends at TrueCar.com said the Leaf and Volt are largely aiming at different sets of consumers. “The Leaf is a second or third car,” he said. “The Volt can replace your existing commuter car or even your family car.” He thinks at least 60 percent of the cars will be leased, though leasing will be limited at first.
G.M. plans to build 10,000 Volts by the end of 2011 and 30,000 in 2012, and most dealers expect a waiting list.
“Between this year and next year we’re only getting 10 or 12,” Yale Kahan, the general sales manager at Boardwalk Chevrolet in Redwood City, Calif., said. “We’ve already got more orders than cars.”
Nissan said in May that the Leaf was already sold out for this year, with 13,000 preorders in the United States.
G.M. does not expect to earn a profit from early generations of the vehicle. Instead, G.M. hopes the Volt will improve its reputation among environmentally conscious consumers and demonstrate the capabilities of battery-powered vehicles, eventually generating earnings as the technology becomes less expensive.
Only 600 Chevrolet dealers in G.M.’s initial markets will be able to sell the Volt at first. People who live outside the areas where it will initially go on sale can buy the vehicle if they travel to a participating dealer. However, they will not be allowed to lease it until sales are expanded nationwide by 2012, G.M. said.
G.M. limited the Volt’s introduction to six states and Washington, so that it can train dealership personnel to properly educate buyers and to service the Volt. “This vehicle comes with the highest degree of training requirements of any vehicle launched in the history of General Motors,” Mr. Ewanick said.
The Volt connects to a standard 120-volt outlet to charge its 400-pound battery. Each charge will cost owners $1 to $1.50, depending on electricity costs. The battery is covered under warranty for eight years or 100,000 miles, three years longer than G.M. guarantees its gasoline engines. Nissan will offer an identical warranty on the Leaf’s battery.
The Volt will have a built-in navigation system, hands-free telephone capabilities and other features not normally offered as standard equipment, as well as five free years of the company’s OnStar communication service.
adapted New York Times
