Moller International has announced that it has designed a hybrid flying car . The two-seater autovolantor is fashioned in the shape of a FerrariDrive-Like-a-Million-Bucks 599 GTB with wings and is claimed to be capable of lifting off vertically from a traffic jam and flying at up to 150 mph for a short distance (about 15 minutes). The autovolantor is designed to function on the road very much like a plug-in hybrid electric vehicleelectric vehicle (PHEV) using one of its eight Rotapower engines to generate enough electrical power to drive for up to 40 miles.Moller International received a request to design this vehicle from a wealthy foreign businessman who was unable to commute from the city to his country home due to the overcrowded streets of Moscow. Moller conducted a preliminary analysis and found that a hybrid propulsion system powered by engines and electric motorselectric motors together with its propriety eight-fan stabilized aircraft design could be blended to create the autovolantor.
Scale model wind tunnel testing and further analysis predicted surprisingly good all around performance for the combined car-aircraft according to Moller. While the cost for developing a prototype was estimated at over US$5 million, Moller believes production versions of the autovolantor could be produced for under US $250,000 in modest volumes.
It should also be noted that Moller International is now 25 years old, and was formed with the expressed purpose of creating VTOL vehicles - Moller had been previously successful in a number of ventures and has demonstrated the viabilility of his ideas, but has yet to produce a commercially available aircraft or flying car. Time will tell.
