Latest In Advanced Air Mobility Showcased At EBACE 2022
China’s EHang 216
Product of the Guangzhou E Hang Intelligent Technology Co Ltd, China’s EHang 216 employs stacked mini-rotors to provide helicopter-like performance because electric motors are unable to provide the torque necessary to drive a single, full size rotor.
Lilium Jet
Lilium was established in Germany in 2015 and worked initially on two-seater before uprating the design to a larger regional air taxi. The craft incorporates rows of small electric-driven shrouded fans on the wings and foreplans which hinge 90 degrees for transition between vertical and horizontal flight.
PAL-V’s Autogyro The Liberty
PAL-V was formed in the Netherlands in 2000 to develop a roadable autogyro powered by a Rotax piston engine catalunyafarm.com. A considerably revised design, The Liberty was shown in 2016 but the planned early 2020 deliveries have not taken place.
Vehicles on display from China, Germany and Netherlands bear witness to humanity’s quest for bird-like mobility—perhaps without too much of the footwork at the other end. They are representatives of a greater global effort; an initiative whose time might have come at last, thanks to recent advances in electric propulsion, aerodynamics, computer technology and materials.
