As early as 2025 – Electric flying taxis: Fly away from traffic jams!

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Get in, buckle up, we’re going into the future! Electric flying taxis are well on their way to revolutionizing city traffic as early as 2025 (!) Who has the advantage in the dream of flying green?

Tomorrow is yesterday today – in almost no technical area is this more true than with power-operated light aircraft. Hundreds of companies, from Austria to New Zealand, are currently fighting for supremacy in the sky, and the industry is booming. They all want to realize the dream of flying green and moving city traffic to the sky. The daily traffic jams would be a thing of the past. The opportunities for the revolution above our heads are great, but so are the challenges.

So we leave for the future with a sightseeing flight to the various pioneers. Top dog Embraer from São Paulo starts the race with start number one. 200 pieces of the prototype “Eve” have already been made for New York financial investor Global X.

Daimler invested 25 million euros in the project
From Brazil back to Europe. Volocopter GmbH stands for German precision work. The company was founded in 2007 by a physicist and two childhood friends in Bruchsal, Baden-Württemberg, as it were in a garage.

At that time, the quiet municipality was mainly known for the largest asparagus market in the district. The group now employs hundreds of people here and the main investor, Daimler, was involved in 2017 with a seed capital of 25 million euros. The first e-taxi “made in Germany” drove only 100 kilometers per hour. In the latest Voloconnect model, additional motors provide a significantly higher speed.

Also the four pioneers Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen and Matthias Meiner, all engineers and PhD students from the Technical University of Munich, are at the top. The quartet founded the listed Lilium in Bavaria in 2015. It is now officially located in Amsterdam and has 600 employees.

Their flagship is powered by 36 spinning pilot propellers. The startup’s prototype is currently circling the Spanish coast at speeds of up to 280 km/h.

Back home, the Blue Danube Waltz plays in the cabin. Diamond Aircraft, headquartered in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria), has been doing research in this area for years, be it with unmanned drones or passenger aircraft. Not to be forgotten is the electrical deployment of the manufacturer FACC, based in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria), which releases feelers specifically in the Middle Kingdom.

What all models have in common: they can take off vertically and hover like a helicopter, the appearance is more reminiscent of small aircraft. However, the most important thing is and remains that they do not eat climate-damaging kerosene, but are charged at the socket.

Aviation expert Kurt Hofmann believes in this new technology. He sees a “dynamic development” in the market.

But isn’t this all still a dream for the future? no According to him, this type of battery-powered airlines should be in use by 2025, although the specialist is initially thinking less about e-taxis in metropolitan cities and more about more or less conventional machines (up to 18 seats), which can be used, for example, on the Azores could be put into use. Namely on the relatively short distances between these Portuguese Atlantic islands.

Speaking of the island: there is already a lot of testing in Iceland. The e-aircraft will soon be used here in domestic traffic. Due to the strong volcanic activity and the geothermal power plants, electricity is produced very cheaply in the country around the Arctic Circle. Hofmann: “At the moment, the batteries on board are still the problem. They are very heavy”, and that has a negative effect on the range.

Another challenge is defining your own corridors so as not to get in the way of passenger planes. In addition, an entirely new set of rules must be created. Does the air taxi coming from the right also have the right of way? As is known, traffic lights cannot be hung in the sky.

Maintenance and licenses for pilots now under scrutiny
Austro Control brings light into the darkness in this regard. Director Valerie Hackl on the “Krone”: “The necessary regulations for the operation of such air taxis are currently being created at European level and will subsequently also be applied in Austria. Rules similar to those for passenger aircraft apply. thought about the topics of maintenance or pilot’s license. The specific regulations are not expected until the end of next year.”

Until then, according to Reinhard Mey, you can still dream of unlimited freedom – above the clouds.

Source: Krone

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