Sopuruchi Onwuka

Futuristic vehicle producer, Alef Aeronautics, has proved the electric flying car technology with its first vertical lift in a controlled traffic congestion scenario.

In the video of the test seen by The Oracle Today, the meshed electric car which hosts propellers in the hood and trunk areas lifted from the ground and flew across a parked vehicle in front before landing and continuing on wheels.

The test flight demonstrates the future of vehicular movement in congested cities where limitations of traffic control would be addressed by the drone technology.

With the technology,motorists in the emerging EV future would now be flying over traffic jams in the flying car which can be driven around like a normal car on the streets.

The invention by Alef is built like a normal electric vehicle with electric motors attached to each of the four wheels. It also has propellers in the bonnet and boot that enable it take off at any time to skip the queue.

The company successfully tested the flying car for the first time in a city environment where  the car drove forwards for a few metres before taking off vertically and gliding through the air across some distance before landing on the ground and driving off.

‘This drive and flight test represents an important proof of technology in a real-world city environment,’ said Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef.

‘We hope it will be a moment similar to the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk video, proving to humanity that new transportation is possible.’

The test was conducted on an unidentified public street that had been closed off.

According to Alef, the video is the first in history to show a car both driving and vertically taking off.

‘While previous videos exist of cars driving and using a runway to take off, videos of tethered flights, and eVTOL flying taxis taking off, this is the first publicly released video of a car driving and taking off vertically,’ the company said in a statement.

While the test was carried out with a special, ultralight version of the Alef Model Zero, the Model A flying car will eventually be a two-seater with a road range of 200 miles and a flying range of 110 miles.

The carbon-fibre frame – which measures around 17ft long and 7ft wide – is designed to fit in any parking space or garage.

To drive on the road, the car uses four small engines in each of the wheels and will drive similar to a normal electric car.

This leaves space in the front and the back for eight propellers, which spin independently at different speeds to allow it to fly in any direction.

It uses a technology called distributed electric propulsion, with a mesh cover over the rotor blades allowing airflow through the vehicle.

 

To drive on the road, the car uses four small engines in each of the wheels and will drive similar to a normal electric car.

Its cruise speed in the air is 110mph, while on the road it will be limited to between 25 and 35mph despite being able to go far faster.

This is so the vehicle – which weighs 850lb – can be classed as an ultralight ‘low speed vehicle’, a legal classification reserved for small electric vehicles like golf carts, to pass regulations.

Mr Dukhovny claims the car, which is aimed at the general public, is relatively simple to use and would take just 15 minutes to learn.

The controls while in the air are similar to those used to fly a consumer drone.

The Model A is different to most of the so-called flying cars being designed today because it actually functions as a car, he said, whereas others on the market tend to be eVTOLS, which are essentially electric helicopters that can only fly.

Alef’s founders began working on the concept in 2015 – coincidentally the same date when Marty McFly went Back to the Future in the second installment of the Hollywood trilogy.

The Model A is currently on pre-order for £235,000 – around the same as the finest Rolls Royce, Bentleys and Aston Martins – but the company is aiming to sell them far cheaper in the future.

Mr Dukhovny said he wanted to bring sci-fi to life and build an ‘affordable’ flying car, with the cost likely to be closer to £25,000 when built at scale.