Shift Magazine - May 2021 - 13

Terrafugia's Transition flying car received its airworthiness certificate in January, but Geely then shuttered the company's U.S. operations.

received its Special Light-Sport Aircraft
airworthiness certificate from the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration in
January. Other startups undertaking flying-car development include Slovakiabased AeroMobil and California's NFT
Inc., which makes the Aska Drive & Fly.
(See story on Page 16.)
Flying-car companies may have captured interest, but so far they have not
seen the same level of enthusiasm
from Wall Street or venture capitalists
as other startups in the aviation realm.
A double dose of regulations - aviation
and automotive - and a niche market
are sticking points. Currently, the PAL-V
is slated to retail for $600,000. Aska says
its first craft will cost $789,000. When
AeroMobil unveiled its flying car in 2017,
it estimated models would cost $1.3 million to $1.6 million each.
Asad Hussain, senior analyst at
Pitchbook, says despite their technical
feasibility, flying cars remain a somewhat
fanciful pursuit.
" There's a whole other layer of complexity in having a vehicle that's crashworthy on roads and light enough to take off
from a road, " he said.
" It's going to be such an uphill battle to
get regulators on board. It's going to take

" This way, you
don't leave your
plane or store it.
You just take it
with you. "

Robert Dingemanse, CEO of PAL-V

years and years and years. Maybe in China
they can make it work. "
In a move that reflects perhaps both the
promise and uncertainty involved, Geely
shuttered Terrafugia's U.S. operations and
shifted development to China just weeks
after securing the Transition's airworthiness
certificate. Kevin Colburn, general manager
of Terrafugia, says the company no longer
plans to pursue launching the flying car in
the U.S., and plans for China are uncertain.
For PAL-V, founded in 2008, there's a
clear runway. Dingemanse says there's
more testing and regulatory work ahead,
but the company is on track to deliver the
Liberty to customers in late 2022. PAL-V's
supply chain includes purchasing body
composite parts from a Mitsubishi division

in Germany that provides similar parts to
Porsche and Lamborghini.
He's perplexed by some of the skepticism surrounding flying cars. The Liberty,
he said, was designed to work without
the need for vehicle technology advances,
within existing government regulations
and with no further needed infrastructure.
It's far different, he scoffed, from the likes
of air taxis and electric takeoff-and-landing
(eVTOL) aircraft, which require new regulatory handbooks, perhaps new airspace
management rules and new vertiports for
urban operations.
Dingemanse also underlined a more
fundamental difference: While there can
be some similarities among all three, he
says only flying cars will provide true doorto-door service, thus enabling truly seamless transportation.
Air taxis and eVTOLs are largely
expected to drop off and pick up passengers at hubs.
" People think eVTOLs compete with
flying cars, but they really don't, " he said.
" A flying car is something which you
own, which you can take from any door
to another with more fun, functionality and
efficiency. The world is open. "
The flying car, delivering the ultimate in
personal mobility convenience. n
may 2021 * shift

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5/17/21 10:13 AM

Shift Magazine - May 2021

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