Joby Aviation Unveils 16-Rotor VTOL Electric Aircraft

Anyone who has ever sat in traffic for hours each day has looked to the skies and dreamed of being able to just fly to their destination. Joby Aviation has a new concept design that it thinks just might be the future of VTOL communing by air. The vehicle is a personal electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that uses electricity for power.

The flying machine has twelve tilting electric propellers that give the aircraft multirotor balanced VTOL capabilities. Once the aircraft takes off and reaches cruising speed, the rotors fold away and the aircraft can reach up to 200mph.

The range of the electric aircraft is 200 miles per charge using four propellers that are optimized for cruising on the backs of the wings and tailfins for 16 total rotors. The official name of the aircraft is the Joby S2. Power comes from a lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide battery giving the 200 mile range a 45-minute reserve time mandated by the FAA would still be available.

Range can be boosted if the pilot takes off and lands like a normal airplane via a runway. Joby thinks that it can bring the S2 to market in the $200,000 price range. Check out the video below to see how the aircraft would work.

SOURCE: Gizmag