An electric propulsion specialist and a supercar designer have partnered up on an eye-catching three-seat eVTOL claiming 250-mph (400 km/h) top speeds and extraordinary 300-mile range figures, as well as some extreme flight dynamics and some nifty ideas.
Pete Bitar has been working on vertical propulsion systems for decades now. He's got a DARPA contract to develop his electric jetpack designs, his Verticycle is a competitor in the GoFly personal flight challenge, and he's just won one of nine NASA "Future-Scaping Our Skies" awards for his work on ground infrastructure and air traffic control for the coming eVTOL age.Now he's partnered up with automotive designer Carlos Salaff to start an eVTOL company. Salaff was behind the outrageous Mazda Furai concept, and has in more recent years been showing his own outrageous coach-built creations at events such as Pebble Beach.
The new company, Urban eVTOL, has released renders of its first aircraft, and it sure is a looker. The Leo Coupe is a three-seat lift-and-cruise design running 16 of Bitar's electric ducted fans for vertical lift, and several more at the rear for horizontal thrust - link - Loz Blain - link - more like this - link
No comments:
Post a Comment