![]() ![]() “Not only is high passenger occupancy better for emissions, it also favors the economics of flying cars. “With these VTOLs, there is an opportunity to mutually align the sustainability and business cases,” Kasliwal said. Emissions tied to the VTOL were 52 percent lower than gasoline vehicles and 6 percent lower than battery-electric vehicles.Īkshat Kasliwal, first author of the study and a graduate student at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, said the findings can help guide the sustainable deployment of an emerging mobility system prior to its commercialization. The researchers found that for trips of 100 kilometers (62 miles), a fully loaded VTOL carrying a pilot and three passengers had lower greenhouse gas emissions than ground-based cars with an average vehicle occupancy of 1.54. Although VTOLs produce zero emissions during flight, their batteries require electricity generated at power plants. The U-M-Ford study, the first comprehensive sustainability assessment of VTOLs, looked at the energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and time savings of VTOLs compared to ground-based passenger cars. “VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example,” he 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,” said Gregory Keoleian, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability. Several companies around the world are developing VTOL prototypes.įlying cars would be especially valuable in congested cities, or in places where there are geographical constraints, as part of a ride-share taxi service, according to study authors from the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems and from Ford Motor Co. However, VTOLs–which combine the convenience of vertical takeoff and landing like a helicopter with the efficient aerodynamic flight of an airplane–could play a niche role in sustainable mobility for longer trips, according to the study, scheduled for publication April 9 in Nature Communications. The idea may not be too far-fetched afterall is said and done.Ī new study of the environmental sustainability impacts of flying cars, formally known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs, finds that they wouldn’t be suitable for a Jetsons-style short commute. Flying cars may not be like George Jetson's vehicle, but they are comingĪNN ARBOR -TECH – In the 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, George Jetson commutes to work in his family-size flying car, which miraculously transforms into a briefcase at the end of the trip. ![]()
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