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The Advantages and Challenges of Urban Air Mobility

While electrifying road vehicles – cars, buses, bikes – are widely talked about, one type of EV is slowly paving its way into the world: eVTOL or electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. Like a helicopter, eVTOLs do not require a runway to land or takeoff, making it a good option for cities with a lack of wide open space. Los Angeles recently announced the Urban Air Mobility Partnership, a project that aims to establish an air taxi system, expanding the city’s transportation network and options. Other urban metropolises like Paris and London are also exploring the possibility of urban air mobility (UAM). What are cities set to gain from air taxis?

Why invest in upward air mobility?

Air taxis are envisioned as an alternative for inter-city or intra-city traveling, providing a faster, and hopefully more efficient, alternative to land travel. They are not meant to replace airplanes, but mainly focus on short distance trips.

There are a couple of advantages to this. First, this would hopefully reduce the amount of vehicles on roads, alleviating traffic congestion and moving some of it to the skies. This would then create a ripple effect, decreasing the noise and carbon emissions from vehicles, promoting a cleaner city.

Considering the environmental benefits, why not just invest more on electric public transportation like buses or trams? Another benefit of eVTOLs is that extensive infrastructure does not need to be in place for it to be adopted. Electric road vehicles would need charging stations, or overhead wiring to power or charge vehicles on the go – major undertakings for big cities. However, with eVTOLs, only transportation hubs need to be built, with no need to build roads or tracks to support it. 

With access to fast and efficient mobility, UAM could potentially help decrease the population density of a city by encouraging people to move to the surrounding suburban areas and offering them quick ways to travel into the city for work.

The challenges ahead for Urban Air Mobility

As with any new technology or systems, there are challenges still to be overcome with urban air mobility. For instance, the safety of eVTOL technology needs to be proven to the public. While air travel does have a much lower accident rate than road travel, there are also many more risks involved. Especially as companies wish for these vehicles to be automated and work without the presence of a pilot. It might be a long while before enough trust can be built between this technology and its user.

Air traffic is also much more heavily regulated than road traffic, meaning that policies and regulations need to be ironed out and tested before this type of transportation can be safely opened to the public. Routes that will not disrupt airport traffic, for example, would need to be worked out.

Unlike cars, air taxis would not be able to take people directly point-to-point. Rather, it would be from one station to another. This means that integration between different modes of transport would need to be implemented in order to create an efficient and seamless travel experience. Otherwise, it would seem less convenient to travel by air only to have to switch vehicles to get to your final destination. 

It is undeniable that electric vehicles are the future of transportation. With the rapid rate at which technology is improving, flying cars could soon be a normal fixture across a city’s skyline in the next 5 to 10 years.

Where Are The Flying Cars

Introduction
No longer things of science fiction, flying cars are slowly becoming possible as many companies are working to release the first commercial and affordable flying car. These vehicles aim to be alternatives to conventional cars, and through their adoption alleviate road traffic, make short-distance travel faster, and provide a more environmentally friendly option for travel.

There are two design streams when it comes to flying cars currently under development. The first, eVTOLs (Electrical Vertical Take-Off & Landing), otherwise known as passenger drones, are close in concept to small drones seen on the market now. The second are   hybrids, vehicles that have both wheels and wings and can operate on the road and in the air.

Plenty of companies have already developed prototypes. If the technology is already available, what is really stopping us from having flying cars now?

Why flying cars?
As the world taps into its finite fuel reserves, companies and researchers are racing to find efficient and affordable fuel and transportation alternatives. Electric vehicles (EVs) reduce the need for combustible fuel. They are also better for the environment as they reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution on the road. As a replacement for short-to-medium distance travelling, electrical flying cars would reduce the emissions from, and fuel used for trains, planes, and road vehicles.

Compared to electric cars, conventional cars are inefficient in their energy use. Currently, EVs convert around 60% of their energy to propulsion, while only 20% of every litre of fuel burned is used for forward motion in a conventional car. The rest is lost to heat and noise. In the same way, flying cars would allow for better use of energy when compared to fuel-based vehicles.

Commercial air travel has proven to be significantly safer than road travel. Thus, the standards set for the safety of flying vehicles would be higher than that of conventional cars, prompting developers to ensure they would be a safe option for daily use. Moreover, the advancement of technology has allowed for autonomous vehicles, aiming to eliminate human error. This technology is also being worked into flying cars.

Flying cars also allow for more mobility in a shorter amount of time. It would reduce the time spent commuting or stuck in traffic, giving people more time for other activities, like spending time with family and friends. In an urban city where life is busy and fast paced, the extra time would be warmly welcomed.

What still needs to be improved?
Technologically and economically, flying vehicles have not reached a level of efficiency which would allow it to be an effective mainstream option of travel. Ultimately, in order for electrical flying vehicles (eVTOL’s) to become reliable, safe, efficient, and affordable, battery technology still has a long way to go. Compared with jet fuel of the same weight, currently available batteries are just not as efficient for flying. According to one study, a single passenger eVTOL is still less energy efficient than electric road vehicles. The batteries of today are still unable to carry the amount of energy needed for flying vehicles to be considered energy efficient. Moreover, since these batteries would be extremely heavy-duty, the charge rate would be too slow to support flying vehicles as a high-frequency option for travel. 

Besides capacity, the heat generated from the release of power is a huge concern. Batteries in eVTOLs and flying vehicles need to discharge much quicker than road vehicles, requiring special cooling systems, adding to the weight of vehicles. The extra heat would also shorten battery life and possibly make them more prone to catching fire. There are current problems with EVs catching fire while charging or after being involved in accidents. The instability of the safety of batteries must be addressed before flying vehicles can be considered a safe and viable option of public transportation.

What are the next steps?
Developing the right battery is still the key to creating a flying vehicle that can be clean, green, and efficient. Battery testing must also catch up with the needs of battery and vehicle developers to better understand what can be done to make them better. [Battery testing equipment] should be able to detect the smallest changes in the battery early in the testing phase so researches can quickly pick out factors that affect battery health. Equipment like Arbin’s cuts through the measurement noise present in lower quality equipment, allowing researchers to see minute changes and trends. Thus, more effectively assessing and predicting the efficiency and health of the battery.

Temperature control equipment like [Arbin’s MZTC Multi-Chamber], also helps ensure superior measurement precision and safety during testing. Accelerating the [testing and development process] by reducing the chances of one battery cell affecting the other and causing issues like cascade failures. With flying car batteries, where heat and temperature control is crucial, having the right battery testing equipment is critical.

While solid concepts for flying cars are present and the projected benefits of using them are good, technology has yet to catch up to our imagination. However, once battery technology is able to meet the safety standards and efficiency needs of a flying vehicle, commercial, mainstream flying cars will become transportation of the present.