Flying cars have long been the one promise of the future that humankind has not quite been able to achieve. The dreamy visions of flying cars zipping through the air, hurtling over traffic problems and achieving speeds far exceeding those of terrestrial vehicles, has always been just out of reach.
The TF-X – maybe a flying car of the future – could spark a revolution in everyday travel.
Image by Terrafugia / Barcroft Cars / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
But a new study examines the realities of flying cars – namely, how they might impact the environment. The study, published this week in the journal Nature Communications, set out to compare flying cars – or ‘vertical takeoff and landing aircraft’ (VTOLs) – to standard internal combustion engine and electric vehicles.
Using data from prototype VTOLs, they found that flying cars could achieve 52% higher efficiency than gas-powered cars and 6% higher efficiency than electric cars on trips exceeding 62 miles.
Flying cars will only be more eco-friendly on longer journeys. Image by yangyang/Getty Images
There were a few caveats to keep in mind, however. On shorter trips – say, under 22 miles – traditional internal combustion and electric cars were more efficient than flying cars. That’s because it takes a large amount of energy to lift a VTOL off the ground and gain altitude, while the energy needed to get a terrestrial car rolling down a highway is much lower. Once the trips exceed 22 miles, however, the flying car pulls ahead in terms of emissions, thanks to efficient cruising speeds, more direct travel routes and a few assumptions about how many people would be inside the VTOLs.
The dream of flying over traffic may be a way off. Image by Liyao Xie/Getty Images
About that last part: those efficiency numbers were also based on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per passenger – not the vehicles themselves. Researchers assumed VTOLs would be traveling at a max occupancy of three passengers (not including the pilot), in order to maximize the cost per trip. They then calculated 1.54 passengers in gas and electric cars – taking the average from US transportation data. This disparity gave flying cars an advantage over longer distances, when inefficiencies in takeoff are mitigated by more-efficient cruising speeds.
This makes future VTOLs look more like commercial airlines, rather than the free-flying personal vehicles that The Jetsons might have led us to believe. For now, the dream of piloting over miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic might still be a long way away, but the picture is becoming a little clearer.
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