It’s your UDX Airwolf hoverbike. You don your lid, crank up your favorite tunes, and hover out of your garage before blasting off with all the youth and vigor you’ve ever known. Within seconds, you’re doing 142 mph (230 km/h), speeding over traffic, stop lights, and police with radar like a Peregrine falcon on your way to your favorite canyons.
This is what Czech startup UDX is creating. A 430-hp (320-kW) motorcycle-esque eVTOL with “hummingbird-like” agility that seats two. It may look like a typical quadcopter, but what really sets the Airwolf apart from most other designs I’ve seen is the tilt rotors. Each of its four ducted propellers can move independently.
And those aren’t just structural stanchions holding it all together. They’re bonafide wings, meticulously designed and engineered to be effective enough in forward flight to generate roughly 50% of the lift needed to keep this hoverbike in the air. All that lift means more efficient flight, which means less draw on the batteries, giving you a longer range than you’d have otherwise.
The Airwolf should weigh in at a fairly hefty 639 lb (230 kg) but still go from 0 to 60mph (100 km/h) in three seconds with a 142 mph top speed. Neat. The consequence of high maneuverability and speed with all that weight is an estimated 25-minute flight time and 41-mile (66-km) range … not so neat.
But what a thrilling half-hour that would be for enthusiasts of all types. It would be like living out your fantasies of being Maverick from Top Gun, performing high-banking aerobatics as you whiz through a steep-walled canyon with a 360-degree view, feeling the rush of wind and maybe even the excited squeeze of your pillion, had you taken off with a passenger or picked one up along the way.
UDX via YouTube
And then you see the price tag of US$320,000. Suddenly there are only enthusiasts of a certain type: Filthy rich.
Regardless, with companies like UDX, this might be a more attainable and certain future. With battery and electric motor technology improving on what seems like a daily basis, motorcycle-like personal eVTOLs with a practical range could be the future for the masses. And not just for weekend warriors either, but for commuting to work, search and rescue operations, or quick responses to accidents. Or maybe just as a quick way to get the in-laws out of the house for a bit, when you offer up your new Airwolf for them to try.
To fly the UDX Airwolf, you’ll need to have a sports pilot license in the US. That means 20 hours of flight training (five of which can be solo) and passing a couple of tests. Pretty easy and not nearly as expensive as a private pilot license (says I, as a true armchair quarterback).
UDX isn’t the only company trying to feed that two-wheeled thrill in the air.
Lazareth’s Moto Volante is a semi-functioning road-and-air-going jet-cycle from five years ago. It “flew” while tethered to the ground with actual jet turbine engines in each of the four wheel hubs (yes, I know I said motorcycle and four wheels … see the picture below, it’s a bit of a “transformer”). Lazareth is the most motorcycle-looking of the bunch.
lazareth.fr
Jetpack Aviation is another. That company is using thrust-vectoring turbojets on gimbals on each corner, with the expectation of using a single turbofan and ducting – like a Harrier AV-8A jet – in the future. Given that it runs on fossil fuels, Jetpack Aviation’s Speeder will boast proper range and speeds into the hundreds of miles per hour. The downside, however, is that turbojets are quite noisy and won’t be suitable for taking off and landing in your strict, quiet, HOA-run gated community of senior citizens.
Jetpack Aviations
Another eVTOL that’s caught our attention is the Air One made by Air, an Israeli company that has functional aircraft available for preorder today. While maybe not exactly motorcycle-like, it shares characteristics with the Airwolf – namely, it has wings that provide 60% lift in forward motion.
airev.aero
Lift like that gives the Air One a pretty impressive 110-mile (177-km) range at speeds up to 155 mph (250 km/h). The Air One’s battery pack can charge from 0 to 100% in only an hour. Another neat thing about the aircraft is the fact that its wings can fold up in five minutes, and it fits neatly on a trailer so you can take it wherever you want to go on vacation. But it is a closed cockpit, so there is that.
Which one would you choose?
Company website: UDX
