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Republicans and Democrats cannot agree that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But one thing everyone agrees on is they hate traffic. Ever since there were more than three automobiles in any given city, drivers have complained about congestion. Gridlock in the city, overcrowded highways — arghh! Can’t anybody deliver us from the horrors of too many cars all trying to occupy the same space at the same time? Tesla and Xpeng both say they have the solution — flying cars!
Think about it. You step out the back door of your 4,000 square foot hacienda, strap yourself into your personal flying car, and presto! You are above the mass of quivering humanity beneath you and flying through a brilliant blue sky on the way to your destination, untroubled by a pile-up on the Henry Hudson or a lane closure on the 405. God is in his heaven and all is right with the world because you are wafting along in splendid isolation, untroubled by the hurly-burly of the workaday world.
Elon Musk found time away from his day job to appear on the Joe Rogan extravaganza on October 31, during which he referred to a statement made by Peter Thiel, his fellow collaborator at PayPal (and Anti-Christ alarmist), who said once that “the future was supposed to have flying cars.” That was when Musk revealed that Tesla would reveal a flying car sometime in the future, which in Musk-speak means before the next millennium.
When Rogan asked if the flying car would have retractable wings, Musk, with his usual flair for understatement, said, “I can’t do the unveil before the unveil. I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever.” Tesla stock immediately rose more than 3% on the news, as Tesla investors pondered the wonders of what a flying car would do for the company’s bottom line.
Xpeng Flying Car Factory Begins Production
Xpeng X2 2 stole the show in Melbourne. Photo courtesy Xpeng
China’s Xpeng has a subsidiary called Aridge, which has begun series production of its modular electric flying car at its new 120,000 square meter (1.3 million sq ft) factory in Guangzhou, according to Electrive. That facility combines automotive and aviation manufacturing operations under one roof. The company says it can manufacture up to 10,000 flying cars per year.
Completed as the end of September, Aridge claims it is the world’s first “intelligent” flying car factory and features automated production lines for large scale manufacturing. “Our first aircraft has rolled off the intelligent manufacturing facility, validating the world’s first modern flying car manufacturing system,” Aridge wrote on LinkedIn. The initial aircraft will be used for test flights to verify performance, system reliability, and production processes before customer deliveries planned for 2026.
The manufacturing site integrates five key workshops: composites, propulsion, assembly, paint, and final integration. The facility applies standardized production methods similar to those used in automotive manufacturing while meeting airworthiness requirements. To an outside observer, that sounds a little like the “unboxed” factory concept recently patented by Tesla.
The actual product is known by the rather ungainly moniker “Land Aircraft Carrier” and consists of two modules — a land vehicle and a detachable aerial unit. The ground module — which is used to transport and recharge the aerial unit while it is on the ground — uses a three axle layout with six wheels and features all-wheel drive and rear wheel steering. It can seat five passengers and bears more than a passing resemblance to the Tesla Cybertruck. The aerial unit itself seats two.
The aerial module is an all-electric six-rotor aircraft with a carbon-fiber fuselage and dual-ducted rotors. The system is designed to reduce structural weight and improve efficiency. The aircraft can operate in manual or autonomous flight modes. Aridge plans to launch operations in the Middle East as early as 2027. At an event in Dubai, the company carried out its first manned demonstration flight outside China. Aridge says it has already received around 7,000 pre-orders for its modular “Land Aircraft Carrier” flying car.
All of this is very exciting of course, but here at CleanTechnica intergalactic headquarters — where each employee is fitted with a digital device that keeps us from bumping into each other in the corridors during the midday rush to the dining room — we have a few questions.
As exalted grand poohbah Zachary Shahan wrote a year ago, when Xpeng announced it was building a factory for this venture, “I’m not going to lie — this one’s got me laughing. You have to assume something is serious when there’s actually a factory being built for it, but a flying car? Really? It feels very 1950s.” Indeed, for those of us who used to read Popular Mechanics at the barbershop, it does have that 50s “the future’s so bright we gotta wear shades” vibe to it. This video only adds to that sense of wonder.
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In a press statement, Xpeng said, “The XPENG X2 is a two-seater flying car. It does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions during flight and is a step forward in the pursuit of urban green transportation. It will be suitable for future low-altitude city flights and is perfect for short-distance city journeys such as sightseeing and medical transportation.”
“The XPENG X2 is the fifth-generation flying car independently developed and manufactured by XPENG AEROHT. For the first time, the X2 adopts an enclosed cockpit with a minimalist teardrop-shaped design and a sci-fi appearance that takes high-efficient aerodynamics into account to achieve the ultimate in-flight performance. In order to reduce weight, the XPENG X2 has a complete carbon fiber structure.”
When the whole notion of a flying car was announced by Xpeng three years ago, Zachary expressed some of the misgivings all of us have. “How practical is the X2 in actuality? How much will it cost? Who will actually be able to afford it? I assume it won’t be replacing the Toyota Corolla anytime soon.”
“Yes, new tech starts out expensive and eventually drops in cost and trickles down to the masses, but will flying cars like this ever drop down to a mass-market level. Small planes haven’t. Helicopters haven’t. Even normal cars are barely affordable to many people anymore. But will flying cars ever even becoming accessible or practical for the very wealthy?”
Flying Cars & Congestion
The dream of avoiding land-based congestion has been a constant prod to innovation. Elon Musk got a brainwave one day while stuck in traffic on his way to LAX. Why not burrow underground, install a subterranean system of tunnels that allow people to travel at up to 700 mph in a partial vacuum to reduce wind resistance, and whisk travelers from city to city faster than they can fly?
Why not, indeed. It’s the kind of idea that would be boffo at any middle school science fair. But in actual practice, it faces some daunting engineering problems, not the least of which is that the Earth is not quite as stable as we think it is, and any minor misalignment along the route of travel would have major consequence for the passengers inside.
The other thought has been to rise above it all in airborne vehicles that leapfrog over the less fortunate far below. It is the basic idea behind airplanes. The problem with flying cars is, where do you park them before they take off and after they land? The Xpeng solution is not a solution at all, as it effectively doubles the amount of vehicles need to transport a human from Point A to Point B.
Are we seriously thinking these devices would solve our congestion issues? In fact, the idea of thousands of these flying people movers all jockeying for position during the morning commute makes us wonder if the people who envision such things have taken leave of their senses. Isn’t this a symptom of the Jevon’s Effect, where more cool stuff designed to boost efficiency leads inexorably to even more stuff? Don’t we have enough stuff already?
Where does a flying car hang out when not in use? Do we need to build new hi-tech parking spaces for them in already overcrowded city centers? Will those in suburbia fly to the local Piggly Wiggly to pick up a quart of milk in one? So many questions; so few answers.
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