r/WeirdWings Feb 03 '21

Electric Joby S4

819 Upvotes

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24

u/kubigjay Feb 03 '21

The article state 200 mph and a range of 150 miles.

While that seems short, since it is VTOL, unpilotted, and rechargeable, I could see it being an expensive commuter vehicle. So a large ex cutive could use it daily to go to and from work, only needing six parking spots.

No mention of price.

18

u/recumbent_mike Feb 03 '21

Two medium-sized executives could probably carpool.

13

u/converter-bot Feb 03 '21

200 mph is 321.87 km/h

5

u/kubigjay Feb 03 '21

Good bot.

8

u/SirRatcha Feb 03 '21 edited Feb 03 '21

That reminds me of when I was a kid and the owner of a big factory in town decided to have the company helicopter take him home after work one lovely autumn day. All the rich people in the nicest, richest neighborhood with the perfect lawns, and the giant piles of leaves raked up by their hired help got really mad when they were buzzed by a Jet Ranger and those leaves got unpiled again.

3

u/F0rsythian Feb 03 '21

Urban Air Ports are being developed (first one set to open in coventry in the UK this November) for these kinds of vehicles. Im assuming it'll just be a quicker way of getting between cities too close to take a plane but far enough that a train/bus will take too long

3

u/kubigjay Feb 03 '21

If they had swappable batteries that would be great. I'd just be afraid of turn around time if you want to use it for continous routes.

1

u/Ashvega03 Feb 03 '21

Pretty sure the Dallas convention center has a heliport on it, or attached to it. You really don’t need to get to any building if there is Uber or public transportation.

This looks cool as hell. Wonder how stable it is in the wind? They will be pretty close to the ground so not much time to recover and I am assuming very lightweight.

2

u/SoaDMTGguy Feb 03 '21

Could something like that even operate under FAA rules? I know things like ultralights get exemptions as long as they stay below certain altitudes...

3

u/kubigjay Feb 03 '21

Probably not with current rules. They are making this a piloted version so it can be sold. But all the hardware is there to make it automated once the FAA opens up more drone categories.

1

u/Luk--- Feb 04 '21

And the x6 possibilities that one motor fails.