Domain: moller.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to moller.com.
Comments · 362
-
Skycar
Moller International of Davis California has a full blown Skycar It uses 8 Wankel Rotary Engines(? ) (ala Mazda RX-7) the M400 gets 15 MPG (like the RX-7 too) and top speed of 390 mph (uh, not like the RX-7). The M150 gets 45 MPG and a top speed of 375 MPH. Cnet did a write-up of it a few weeks ago (that I sent into
/. but was never posted), and can be found on the Rotary News site -
Skycar
Moller International of Davis California has a full blown Skycar It uses 8 Wankel Rotary Engines(? ) (ala Mazda RX-7) the M400 gets 15 MPG (like the RX-7 too) and top speed of 390 mph (uh, not like the RX-7). The M150 gets 45 MPG and a top speed of 375 MPH. Cnet did a write-up of it a few weeks ago (that I sent into
/. but was never posted), and can be found on the Rotary News site -
Skycar
Moller International of Davis California has a full blown Skycar It uses 8 Wankel Rotary Engines(? ) (ala Mazda RX-7) the M400 gets 15 MPG (like the RX-7 too) and top speed of 390 mph (uh, not like the RX-7). The M150 gets 45 MPG and a top speed of 375 MPH. Cnet did a write-up of it a few weeks ago (that I sent into
/. but was never posted), and can be found on the Rotary News site -
Skycar
Moller International of Davis California has a full blown Skycar It uses 8 Wankel Rotary Engines(? ) (ala Mazda RX-7) the M400 gets 15 MPG (like the RX-7 too) and top speed of 390 mph (uh, not like the RX-7). The M150 gets 45 MPG and a top speed of 375 MPH. Cnet did a write-up of it a few weeks ago (that I sent into
/. but was never posted), and can be found on the Rotary News site -
Moller's SkyCar even cooler?Check out www.moller.com or a news story about their SkyCar at Yahoo. Since Solotrek won't load, I don't know if their design is similiar to the SkyCar.
While most people seem to be a bit skeptical Personal Aircraft, I'm a believer, or rather, I wan't to believe.
-
Re:will it happen? will it be worth it?To clarify:
This is the Moller M400 Skycar he's referring to, I assume, found at http://www.moller.com. I can answer a lot of points (I've read a lot on this car):
They hope to sell them for $60,000 each.
There is no air-traffic control. They hope to develop a GPS-based autoguidance system built into each and every car, and have cars follow GPS-paved "lanes" in the sky. Cars could keep in touch with each other's GPS signals, and would fly themselves, eventually. For the first couple years, these cars would be manually operated and require a new type of FAA license.
These are designed to be flown at around 1000 feet, and have a ceiling of 30,000 feet. If you go smacking one of these into a 747 (which cruise at 25-33,000 feet), that's your own decision.
These can only be flown between licensed "vertiports" (renamed helicopter pads). The point of these is for personal city-to-city transport, not driving around in a city (though if your place of work has a helicopter pad, more power to you.)
You shouldn't fly in a rainstorm. If you *want* to, well, remember: You're not a driver, you're a pilot. This is more plane than car. It's possible to fly in a light rain... and hopefully they'll have that GPS guidance up soon.
Why would you WANT hydrogen or electric power? It'd be less efficient than these things. They use a new type of wankel engine that's far more efficient than any combustion engine mass-produced before, and the M400 gets 15 miles to the gallon. (The M150 single-seater gets 45mpg, but they won't build it, no matter how many times I E-mail them that they need to.)
They've been successfully testing a predecessor, the M200, for a while now... they're going to be doing the first tests of the M400 literally any day now. They hope to get a production run started by the end of this year, although realistically, it will probably be the first part of next year before they start pumping these sweet things out. In the meantime, a $5000 deposit gets you a position on a waiting list for one of these.
No clue what the guidance system will work on. And if you wanna get it painted purple, go for it.
-
Fuel and Range
As the Skycar web pages mention, 15 MPG at 350 MPH.
10 gallons to go 150 miles, 20 gallons to go 300 miles. And you'll have gone those 300 miles in less than an hour.
OK, now think about how often you have to go 100 miles away. How often are you going to have to go more than 300 miles?
I don't know the cruising range, but if it is 300-600 miles, you'll still be able to go a great distance even if you have to refuel every hour or two.
At 3,000 miles you'll run out of continent. Ten hours. Are five or ten landings in one day too much to hop across the country in a day, when you've already devoted ten hours to the trip? -
Re:Mileage isn't too bad
Not 600 MPH. 350 MPH, 600 KPH.
15 MPG. Here are the specs. -
Read the FAQNot 600 MPH. 350 MPH.
Not two jets. Eight in the 4-passenger, 4 in 2-passenger, 2 in pilot-only.
Ducted fans, like a Harrier. VTOL, then the ducts rotate and allow most of the thrust to go rearward.
It is under FAA control, so the licensed pilot has to follow helicopter/VTOL/STOL rules.Look at the Skycar webpage and read the FAQ.
I do wonder why their liability hasn't allowed them to try real test flights on the 2-seater. Or maybe the 2-seater does not have the two parachutes which the 4-seater has?
-
Reuters got the speed wrongMoller's web site states that the cruising speed is 350 mph, and top speed is 390, not the 600 mph Reuters (or possibly New Scientist magazine, Reuters' source) claimed. According to statistics provided by Moller (so the veracity of the numbers isn't guaranteed), it should have a comparable passenger miles/gallon to a 737.
The site also states that the rotary engines that power the Skycar run on ordinary gasoline.
-
Re:Is this supposed to be new?
Nope, this guy has been selling investment opps in Popular Science for years. And yes the AvroCar sucked. But hell it was the 50's and people were supposed to be stupid. The moller site made lots of claims that were largely unsupported. I'll believe the flying car when space and aviation week does a demo. The AeroBots look very cool though, they just need a CCD camera, target aquistion software and subguns on 'em all running Linux of course. Check out www.moller.com and www.freedom-motors.com
-
SkyCar homepage
For those interested:
SkyCar homepage.