Joby Aviation's Twelve Electric Rotor Tilt Rotor Personal Aircraft Unveiled

Personal electric VTOL (vertical take off and landing) commuting may not be far off, thanks to accelerating improvements in battery technology. Joby Aviation has put forward an incredible two-seater plane concept that uses 12 tilting electric propellers to provide multirotor-style balanced VTOL capabilities. Once it reaches cruising speeds, these rotors fold away into aerodynamic bullet shapes, and the aircraft can reach speeds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h) and ranges of up to 200 miles using four additional cruise-optimized props on the backs of the wings and tail fins.

link.

1. Someone should tell them tilt rotors are hard.

2. TWELVE electric motors is asking for maintenance headaches.

3. I'd also guess the FAA would regulate this as a helicopter, so that may limit those who can buy this.


However, I'll bet this will be vaporware. (what's the equivalent term of 'vaporware' in aerospace?)

a reply to: anzha

It's more than a bit dodgy looking from where I'm sitting. Electric motors could be a problem too, I've heard some tales of the electric vehicle motors being problematic already, dirt and dust, brushes whatever, never mind being something in a manned lifting body...talking about lifting bodies, what's with the 'conventional' design?

a reply to: smurfy

They've had good success with electric aircraft so far. There are quite a few testing and in development.

At least it might be relatively quiet and not blast the neighborhood like the Moller flying car.

Personally, I'm just going to strap a bunch of linked hobby drones to a lawn chair and fly to work that way.

originally posted by: anzha
1. Someone should tell them tilt rotors are hard.

2. TWELVE electric motors is asking for maintenance headaches.

The aircraft uses electric motors, which are very well suited to applications like this. They're reliable, effective, strong, and having 12 means that if one breaks you are unlikely to die immediately. Furthermore, because you're not running coolant lines, fuel lines, oil lines, intakes, and all sorts of other fun stuff, the tilt rotor idea works just fine so long as the hardware fits. Running electrical lines is easy. Even having them swivel is easy compared to dealing with fluids.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: smurfy

They've had good success with electric aircraft so far. There are quite a few testing and in development.

Yes I was looking at some of the stuff, just on the basis of this page. But look at it, even as a concept it's not going to cut the mustard like that, and even if, there is no way it will ever be a form of mass transport which is the holy grail.
Tesla and BMW know that already, their all electric wagons are for the uber rich, and are likely to be so for a long long time, and even they have not great reliability in the main aspects.
I like the idea of the foldaway rotor though, it reminds me of those pocket fans you could buy for next to nothing to cool your gub...and were totally useless.
At least the firm is idea grabbing, that's always a good thing.

a reply to: anzha

looks good.

multi electric rotor craft can be very dependable.

And they have some nice motors now that are well sealed and should last a while.

The only issue here is flight time. I hope that the batteries won't be so heavy the craft can't get off the ground.

a reply to: Darkpr0

Yes, there's a lot less complexity compared to 12 fuel powered engines. However, even so, you could get the benefits of multiple motors with engine out capability with far less than 12. Four tops could give you greatly increased reliability without the increase in maintenance.

I think AgustaWestland's Project Zer0 is more on track, but AW just did it as a quick test project rather than anything else.