Looking like a cross between a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft, ASKA’s full-scale A5 eVTOL prototype is now both drivable and flyable. It made headlines at his CES 2023 earlier this month.
My original plan was to drive a hybrid car around the famous Las Vegas Strip. Unfortunately, it was damaged in transit from Northern California and was unable to be driven for the show.
But I still had an up close and personal view: I sat in the cockpit and watched the vehicle transform. And with verbal guidance from ASKA pilot David, he flew a virtual version of this futuristic ‘car’ right under his Golden Gate bridge before proudly landing at San Francisco airport. .
Scott Thaler/New Atlas
lest you get carried away with the vehicle’s innovative and aeronautical aspects, you might overlook the A5’s innovative wheels. ASKA has developed a special electric motor inside each. As a result, these wheels can take the A5 from zero to about 65 mph (105 km/h) in less than 5 seconds. On the runway – before the propeller takes over.
“It’s very cost effective,” ASKA co-founder and CEO Guy Kaplinsky explained to me. “Usually with a propeller on a runway, it takes a long time to get up to speed.”
This means that this four-seater is capable of either vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) or short takeoff and landing (STOL). Beauty intelligently considers passenger and cargo weight to determine what you need based on how many runways you happen to have, giving you the option of how quickly and at what cost you want to land. is to air. Imagine accelerating onto a highway in a regular ground vehicle…you may have the time and space to gradually merge, or you may just punch, even at the expense of overall fuel efficiency. Sometimes you have to.
Scott Thaler/New Atlas
The video at the bottom of this article shows how the vehicle changes from driving mode to flying mode. In this mode, the canards fold forward, the wings fold back, and the flaps extend. The propellers then point downward for lift-off and then return to vertical for forward flight.
Another secret to making the A5 possible lies in the power source of the hybrid electric vehicle. “We couldn’t find a battery that met our needs, so we had to develop our own,” Kaplinsky said. The gasoline-powered engine allows him to extend the vehicle’s total range to 250 miles (402 km) at flight speeds of up to 150 mph (241 km/h).
ASKA is working with several major agencies to get the A5 legal under road and aviation law. This effort includes development and flight testing conducted in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) certification guidelines. In addition, the company signed a five-year space law agreement to facilitate its participation in NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign (AAM), organized jointly with the FAA.
Scott Thaler/New Atlas
The current commercialization goal is to offer a production model of the A5 and obtain all the appropriate regulations and certifications by 2026. In its first phase, only licensed pilots will be allowed to operate the vehicle. However, a fully automated version could be deployed in 2030. In the meantime, ASKA expects FAA approval of test permits to fly the A5 prototype as early as this spring (Northern Hemisphere).
With that timeline in mind, the company is now accepting deposits for the limited production first edition A5. These deposits add up to a hefty price tag totaling US$789,000. However, the purpose is to allow everyone to use and share these vehicles, just as the average individual does not own buses or planes.That said, invest in one of the vehicles can Allow families to leave urban areas and move to suburbs where the cost of living is significantly lower.
“I didn’t start the company because I wanted to make aircraft, [but] Because we want to build solutions that reduce the cost of living for people,” Kaplinsky explained. But our vision was that if we want to reduce the cost of living and improve the quality of life, we must provide transportation.”
In other words, with a team of about 50 employees currently working on the myriad of systems and solutions needed to literally get this project off the ground, ASKA does not see itself as a flying car manufacturer, but as a and as a company focused on future lifestyle solutions. Task. Designers admit it’s not the best plane or the best car. But Kaplinsky sums it up nicely by suggesting, “When you combine the two, you get the best of both worlds. That’s what makes this vehicle unique.”
ASKA™ A5 drive & fly eVTOL – full-scale functional prototype
Company website: Asuka
