Back to the Future: Part II said that we would have flying cars by the year 2015. The movie was pretty close because it sounds like we are getting flying cars in the year 2018. PAL-V is claiming that they have created the world’s first production-ready flying cars. At the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Dutch company has introduced the first commercially available flying cars – the PAL-V Liberty Sport and the PAL-V Liberty Pioneer.
These flying cars look like they are half gyrocopter and half three-wheeled vehicle. The flying car has two separate engines, one for flight and one for driving on the roads. The PAL-V vehicle’s driving engine has 99 horsepower, a top speed of 100 mph, and a driving range of 817 miles. In the air, the vehicle also has a top speed of 100 mph and a range of 310 miles. The flying engine has 200 horsepower. It takes between 5 – 10 minutes to convert from driving to flying mode and vice versa. The two-seat vehicle needs a small airstrip of around 1,000-feet-long to take off and land.
The PAL-V Liberty Sport is the standard vehicle and costs $399,000. The PAL-V Liberty Pioneer costs $599,000 and is the premium version that features a “unique interior and exterior finishing.” Plus it also has a “level of personalization reserved for Pioneer Edition owners only.” There will only be 90 Liberty Pioneer models made and you will need to cough up a $25,000 non-refundable deposit for the Pioneer or $10,000 for the Sport.
To fly the PAL-V Liberty Sport or Liberty Pioneer, you must get a pilot’s license and a driver’s license to drive the vehicle. PAL-V says their vehicles are certified to fly under both the European Aviation Safety Agency and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. We finally have flying cars. Sorta.
[NewAtlas]