How Flying Cars Could Change the Aerospace Industry

May 7, 2019

A new study of the environmental sustainability impacts of flying cars (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs) finds that they wouldn’t be suitable for a short commute but could be valuable in congested cities or in places where there are geographical constraints.

The found that for trips of 62 miles, a fully loaded VTOL carrying a pilot and three passengers had lower greenhouse gas emissions than ground-based cars with an average vehicle occupancy of 1.54. Emissions were 52 percent lower than gasoline vehicles and 6 percent lower than battery-electric vehicles.

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