The maiden flight of e-volo's 18-rotor Volocopter electric aircraft prototype last month seems to have impressed quite a few people. The company is claiming a European crowdfunding record after raising €1.2 million (US$1.64 million) in under four days.
The fundraising effort was launched on German crowdfunding platform Seedmatch, which differs from better-known platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo in that it lets people invest in startup companies rather than simply pledge funds to essentially pre-order a particular product.
The Seedmatch campaign passed the €500,000 (US$685,000) mark in just two and a half hours, on the way to a total of €1.2 million in three days, nine hours and 52 minutes. Some 750 investors committed between €250 and €10,000 (US$340 and $13,700).
“The raised money will now serve to optimize the first prototype of the VC200 and, as part of the testing scheme, conclude a comprehensive test flight program for this new aviation category," says e-volo Managing Director Alexander Zosel. "After that, we will build a weight-optimized prototype of the VC200 near series production conditions and finalize type-certification and mold construction for series production."
Source: E-volo
"Grunchy" is correct about a hybrid system. Environmentalist should get behind bio fuel jet hybrids. Jet fuel is the most polluting fuel in air travel and bio fuel is actually non polluting.
We are currently developing a light weight motor that uses no steel or copper that is water cooled to use in the Hydro XE.
Don't see any mention of the drag of the connecting structures at speed which will be quite high.
Small dia rotors are NOT eff nor are the structures to hold them together. 2 things you can't have in an EV VTOL if you want reasonable range, payload. Basic physics.
Now had it been 2 counter rotating rotors of 60% dia the example craft dia would weight 50% of it but have reasonable range, payload, easily 100% more than the example.
A nice 12'dia twin rotor single person unit could be cost effective, $15k with a 50 mile range for commuting, etc is likely the sweet spot for now.
Now, aviation is believed to be less a factor in the Earth's warming than power plants or vehicular traffic. But its emissions are considerable. On a New York-to-Denver flight, a commercial jet would generate 840 to 1,660 pounds of carbon dioxide PER PASSENGER. That's about what an SUV generates in a month."
Now, aviation is believed to be less a factor in the Earth's warming than power plants or vehicular traffic. But its emissions are considerable. On a New York-to-Denver flight, a commercial jet would generate 840 to 1,660 pounds of carbon dioxide PER PASSENGER. That's about what an SUV generates in a month."