Re:Why you have (probably) already bought your last car
by FabHK on Saturday October 13, 2018 @05:21AM
(#18207171)
Yes. The Uber Elevare white paper looks at this issue, and the stylised numbers are:
Car: 1 mile/kWh
Flying car: 2 mile/kWh
Electric car: 3 mile/kWh
(Electric engines are much more efficient than combustion engines.)
So, it’s not too bad, plus ground based vehicles (according to the same study) have to drive on average 1.4 miles for 1 mile distance “as the crow flies”.
However, the numbers above are for fixed wing flight, as far as I can tell. Drone-like hovering flight is less efficient.
Still, I think that’s not the main problem. Regulation, battery specific energy, ATC are bigger hurdles.
Car: 1 mile/kWh
Flying car: 2 mile/kWh
Electric car: 3 mile/kWh
(Electric engines are much more efficient than combustion engines.)
So, it’s not too bad, plus ground based vehicles (according to the same study) have to drive on average 1.4 miles for 1 mile distance “as the crow flies”.
However, the numbers above are for fixed wing flight, as far as I can tell. Drone-like hovering flight is less efficient.
Still, I think that’s not the main problem. Regulation, battery specific energy, ATC are bigger hurdles.
https://www.uber.com/elevate.pdf/