#TIL: EVs making flying cars a reality
By Shilpi Samantray
Even though technology has grown beyond our wildest imaginations in the last 50 years, the one place where science has fallen short of people’s expectations is on flying cars. They have been a part of sci-fi movies since the late 20th century but we are yet to see it in action. Automobiles themselves have evolved exponentially from bulky machines to swanky cars cruising through roads. But they still are literally grounded. Thanks to electric vehicles, the dream of cars hovering on the roads is soon going to be a reality.
A Germany based company Volocopter is marketing its first electricity powered air taxi: VoloCity. The plan is to eventually run it without a pilot and take the technology even one step further. The vehicle will be an electric wingless craft with nine batteries to power it. The first commercial flight for this is scheduled for 2022. Other companies are also following suit. Companies like Lillium, Wisk, Joby Aviation, Bell and countless others are capitalising on innovations like electric propulsion, which dramatically reduces noise emissions, and battery power, which enhances range. For an industry in its infancy, there is no shortage of Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) designs, or the imaginary heights that might be reached with them.
So electric vehicles are not just making the road commute smarter, cleaner and technologically much more superior but they are also living up to our dreams to make flying to our offices a reality in near future.
Today I Learnt (TIL) is a weekly series by OMI that brings you interesting nuggets of information that you didn’t know you needed.
Follow us on Twitter for regular updates.
