In The Future, Each Flying Car May Be Similar To This "Skai"
Ravi Adwani
From Alaka’i, Massachusetts, the flying car "Skai" could be the future of transportation, with ease of transport and clean energy.
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From the manufacturers, “Skai” is the first ever flying car with hydrogen fuel cells.
Originally from Massachusetts, the startup Alaka’i has introduced the Skai, with the concept of a truly flying car. This vehicle has a futuristic look to it, capable of holding five people or an equivalent 1000-pound payload. From a glance, it looks like a combination of a helicopter and a quadcopter. In fact, it also looks like the technology that can transform the world.
Skai is powered 100% by hydrogen fuel cells. In fact, it can fly up to 4 hours continuously and within a range of 400 miles. Why hydrogen? Alaka’i simply chose the cleanest energy solution to power their flying car. 95% of such cells is reusable, while the rest is recyclable at 99% efficiency. To lift the 4000-pound vehicle, the team used six rotors with electric motors, generating around 400 horsepower.
Strong team - big vision
Talking about the team, everyone in Alaka'i has decent experiencing working in the field. The company’ CTO, Co-Founder and the president (Brian Morrison) has had decades of experiencing developing avionics. Before Alaka'i, Brian Morrison worked on military, civilian and NASA programs. Steve Hanvey, Alaka’i CEO has been a military pilot and over 40 years of experience with aerospace. Both of them are working hard to get the Skai a proper vehicle certification.
Anonymous investor
To attract investors and the public, Alaka'i has created a VR experience as well as a promo video. Currently, the single investor to fund Alaka’i still remains anonymous.
As a matter of fact, the cost to develop the Skai is around $15 million. Towards the future, it could be the drive towards high production at a low cost that would make Alaka’i stand out from the crowd. Morrison shared that Alaka'i can afford their own air taxi service. In addition, he believed that the Skai can serve in many other fields like government defense, agriculture and inspections as well. Also, the president told Forbes that the Skai would cost much less than what people think it would be.
The future of mobility
Nowadays, transport and mobility are among the hottest topics in 2019. It’s an everlasting question on how future urban transport would look like in the future. Would we be travel vertically, or would autonomous vehicles about to take over traditional mobility models?
Air pollution from cars is polluting the environment day by day and making commuting worse and worse. Therefore, the clean energy solution from Skai could be the answer we’re all looking for.