Alex Oscar
A SLOVAKIAN company has created a flying car prototype that completed a 35 minute flight between the international airports of Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia.
The company Klein Vision and their plane-car hybrid ‘AirCar’, according to its creator Professor Stefan Klein, has a range of 1,000km (600 miles), at an altitude of 8,200ft (2,500m). So far the AirCar has 40 hours worth of flying time under its belt.
The car is capable of seamlessly transitioning between being a car and a plane in two minutes and 15 seconds.
Prof Klein himself flew the plane from Nitra to Bratislava, then drove off the runway and onto the town roads in front of the entire crowd, including the press.
In an interview he described the flight as ‘normal’ and ‘very pleasant’.
The plane is capable of carrying two passengers, with a combined mass of 200kg (31 stone). And during the test flight the AirCar reached a cruising speed of 170km/h (106mph).
Klein Vision spent two years developing the prototype and invested €2 million into the project.
The senior advisor at Klein Vision believes that there is a ‘huge market’ for flying cars. Indeed, in 2019 consultant company Morgan Stanley speculated that the flying cars sector could be worth up to £1 trillion by 2040.
The concept of flying cars has recently gained more traction and is leaving the sphere of merely science fiction. A spanish company Enaire last year unveiled their plans to bring flying drone-taxis to Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela.
Successful manned passenger drone tests have already been carried out by the German company Volocopter and the Chinese company Ehang.
Fully electric powered vehicles present an eco-friendly alternative to passenger travel, and also for delivery services.
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