Just yesterday, Alef Aeronautics has presented to the public and opened online orders for its first flying car prototype which promises to revolutionize transport by providing an efficient way to avoid traffic. At least to those who can afford to spend 300.000 euros on a vehicle/aircraft, that is. If all goes according to plan, Model A (this is the name of the flying car) will be on the market in 2025.
Online orders have already started: but what is special about it?
Alef Model A it is designed to have a driving range of 320 kilometers (200 miles) and a flight range of 170 kilometers (110 miles). It will take off vertically using eight propellers housed inside a body the size of a large sedan. One or two passengers sit inside a bubble of sorts, but most of the interior of the vehicle's mesh-covered body is just air.
The peculiarity, however, is in the flight structure. The body rotates 90 degrees around its axis to switch from upward flight to forward flight. As it rotates, one side of the car body becomes the upper wing and the other side becomes the lower wing.
Watch the presentation first (at approximately 10:40 am).
Online orders on the startup website, they say in the company, they show particular appreciation for these characteristics.
In yesterday's press conference, Alef showed a prototype of the car (eight propellers) which will take to the skies later this summer for crucial tests. The CEO of the company, Jim Dukhovny, believes that the arrival point of this project is a 35.000 “Model Z” by the end of 2030. A “mass” flying car (it would be the first time in history, and personally I highly doubt this timing) that it would only require a drone license to drive.
I am skeptical
I don't tease my readers with glowing proclamations: the engineering and regulatory challenges ahead are enormous. Especially the latter, whatever one thinks: the authorities are terrified at the idea of a sky populated by thousands of personal aircraft (in addition to drones for deliveries).
Alef's vision, however, is precisely this: in the generous presentation, the company's cultural references were the same as always: Back to the Future, the Jetsons, Blade Runner. “Almost every vision of the future includes a flying car,” Dukhovny said. “We can actually solve all the traffic in the world for the next hundred years.”
A hybrid airplane project
The first Alef Model A (the one being ordered online) is expected to have a payload of around 90kg (200lbs), including the passenger and luggage, says the technical director and co-founder Constantine Kissly. Most commuter vehicles carry just one passenger, he pointed out, but he's also working on a two-person design that doubles that payload. It seems a bit small to me. Very little, in fact.
The company also wants to build a project powered by hydrogen fuel cells, he said Oleg Petrov, another engineer and co-founder of the company: it should have a range of 650 kilometers.
I say: yes, but stay calm. Online orders have already started (and you already have buyers, you say). You have not yet tested the transition from vertical to horizontal flight with a human passenger. Wait for a second round of funding. Do things calmly, right?
I understand that the first investor in Alef is Tim Draper, who was right with Tesla, but if you want to bring something like this to the dealership in 2025... keep your head down and pedal :)
I'll keep an eye on them for you.
