With a range of 640 kilometers, Li Shufu's flying car achieved? Musk: Worried about falling

Nowadays, when many car companies are obsessed with making cars "fly", the two giants of new energy vehicles, BYD and Tesla, are extra cautious.

All along, BYD has not released any research and development projects related to "cars in the sky". In contrast, Tesla's view of flying cars is more stark. In a TV show, Tesla CEO Elon Musk directly complained about flying cars, saying: "I always worry that one day, a car will fall over my head." ”

For the two giants, it may be too early to lay out flying cars. However, for Geely, which is eager to get rid of the fuel car label, it can't wait.

First, the layout of flying cars, Japanese companies are in the front

Regarding the definition of flying cars, as of now, there is no unified consensus in the global industry.

The "flying car" in the traditional understanding refers to a small spacecraft that has both flight and transportation functions at the same time. With the development of related technologies, people's expectations for flying cars have added the function of "automatic driving" today.

Although the definition of flying cars is not clear, this has not affected the deep cultivation of Japanese companies in this field with a "craftsman spirit". Among Japanese companies, it is Toyota, Japan's largest automobile company, which is lagging behind in the transformation of the new energy vehicle market.

As early as 2017, Toyota invested 42.5 million yen in cartivator, an American flying car company, to develop a single-seat flying car specifically designed to ignite the Olympic flame. Some time ago, Toyota invested another $394 million in Joby Aviation to advance flying car research.

According to the official introduction of Joy Aviation, the flying car developed in cooperation with Toyota can accommodate 5 passengers including the pilot, and after liftoff, it can fly continuously at a speed of 240 kilometers per hour, with a maximum speed of 320 kilometers per hour, which is the same as that of high-speed rail.

Like Japanese industry, Japanese officials have high hopes for flying cars.

As early as 2018, Japanese officials led industry and industry organizations to initiate a detailed discussion on the practical use of flying cars. He also said that he would strive to achieve the landing of flying car services around 2025.

Since then, the Japan Patent Office has carried out statistical analysis of the patent items involving small aircraft in international patents, and summarized a series of standards for flying cars in terms of airframe structure, power composition, and flight control technology.

It can be said that in the field of new energy vehicles, Toyota intends to take back the share lost through flying cars. In the field of new energy vehicles, China's private auto giant, Geely, also intends to "gamble" on flying cars.

Second, Geely's layout of flying cars, is it a fried concept?

According to Morgan Stanley's previous forecast, by 2030, the global flying car market size will reach $300 billion, and the flying car industry will also enter the fast lane of development. Its market size is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2040.

As the "cake" of the flying car industry becomes bigger and bigger, more and more companies join the fight in the field of flying cars. Among them, there are not only established car companies, Internet companies, but also aviation giants and military giants.

In 2017 alone, two car companies, Audi and Volkswagen, announced their own flying car plans at the same time. In July 2018, Aston Martin also announced that it would mass-produce a flying car called the Volante Vision Concept in 2020. Almost at the same time, Boeing, Airbus, Uber and other companies have joined the ranks of flying car research and development. Obviously, no one wants to miss the outlet of the "flying car" era.

However, compared with other companies that speculate on concepts but do not have actual products to land, Geely's flying cars seem to be moving.

Similar to the acquisition of Volvo by Geely for 1.8 billion yuan in order to have a high-end brand, Geely still took the acquisition route by developing flying cars.

At the end of 2017, Geely wholly acquired terrafugia, an American flying car company, and gave the company the Chinese name "Taili Flying Car". In September 2019, Geely made another move, jointly investing 50 million euros with Daimler to lead the Investment in German air mobility company Volocopter.

By March 2022 this year, Geely's Taili flying car project has entered the second phase of construction, according to the project leader, the currently developed TF-1 flying car, can complete the car mode and flight mode switch within 1 minute, only 30 meters of runway, can go to the sky, the air cruising range of 640 kilometers, the maximum speed can reach 160km / h, and obtained the FAA airworthiness certificate. The TF-2, which is under development, has also added functions such as automatic driving and vertical take-off and landing.

After 5 years of laying out flying cars, Geely is striving to become the "Tesla" of the flying car era.

III. Conclusion

Standing on the wind outlet, pigs can fly.

Nowadays, new energy vehicles are "pigs" standing on the cusp, even if it is "Wei Xiaoli", which has an annual sales of only about 100,000 vehicles, the market value has exceeded 100 billion. If you add a pair of "flying" wings to this "pig", can it break through the sky and become the top of the industry?

With annual sales of 1.32 million, the market value is not as good as that of "Wei Xiaoli", and it is in urgent need of such a flying "pig" to prove itself.