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by dmitrygr 3367 days ago
1. Helicopters (multi or single rotor) are significantly less fuel efficient than planes per distance and per time

2. Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke

3. These guys do not state their flying time

My guess? It is so bad that it is not worth mentioning.
4 comments
michaelt 3367 days ago 

  The initial two-seat design uses battery packs, with a
  flight-time duration of only about 20 to 30 minutes. It 
  will be certified for sport flying, Zosel says, and he
  plans to sell the copters for about $340,000. He’s also
  working to develop a hybrid power system that would extend
  flight time to over one hour.
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/18-rotor-volocopter-like-flyin...
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franciscop 3367 days ago
My guess is that this is intended to a completely different public than planes (short distances). Still looks like totally unrealistic for urban mobility IMO.
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Semiapies 3367 days ago
Maybe the idea is to make a low-cost alternative to expand the helicopter market.
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1ba9115454 3367 days ago
For urban moblity, let's take a use case of flying someone from central london to heathrow airport i.e. 20miles or 30km.

Assuming this thing could fly at 60km/h then a flight time of 30 minutes would be required.

I'm not aware of any electric VTOL vehicle with this capability at the moment. But we live in hope.

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gardnr 3366 days ago
Well put. I do appreciate your notion of hope. I was going to express this sentiment as "no fucking way!" but in reality I am glad someone is working on (currently) impossible problems.
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ben_bai 3367 days ago
The 2X predecessor is called VC200 and reaches 70km/h and had a flying time of around 20 minutes.
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dmitrygr 3366 days ago
In EU and USA, flying a passenger aircraft requires reserves of 30 minutes minimum (more in some cases, never less)

if your flight time is 20 min, you cannot legally take off

if your flight time is 31 minutes, your flight cannot legally be planned to be over a minute long

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hengheng 3367 days ago
> Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke

Exactly why it has to be developed now and not in five years. Naysayers on HN sometimes. It's a world's first, of course it doesn't beat a Ford Focus.

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Semiapies 3367 days ago
No, that generally means this offering won't go anywhere and anther company entirely will build a practical one down the line.
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