Seeing a Rolls-Royce drive by is almost as infrequent as a sighting of Bigfoot in many parts of the country. It’s a fairly regular occurrence if you live in Beverly Hills, Palm Beach or The Hamptons, but you may wonder how the company continues to thrive with such a small market share in vehicles that stay on the road.
Here’s how:
Diversification. Simply put, the British automaker isn’t just making sick, expensive, over-the-top luxury sedans and SUV’s. They are also a huge player in aerospace and defense.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a company that is a major force in that space. Literally and figuratively. They’ve combined with another British company called Vertical Aerospace to come up with something that may just be the next big thing in passenger transportation. But this method takes you above ground.
The collaboration these companies are working on is with eVTOL, which stands for electric vertical take-off and landing. They are manufacturing these flying machines that many people believe with become a primary mode of transportation in the near future.
The two companies have created a flying machine called VA-4X. Not only does it look like something out of a sci-fi comic book 20 years ago, but it has eight propellors, and can take up to four people on a 120 mile trip.
Forget about traffic jams! The vehicle flies at speeds reaching 200 mph., according to a story in Auto Evolution.
2024 is the target date for these birds to be in the sky en masse, with test flights scheduled for late in 2021 if things go well.
Rolls Royce’s contribution to the venture is the electrical power system. Word in the urban arir mobility world is over 150 engineers from Europe and the U.S. are working on this project.
The director of that team, Rob Watson was quote in the Auto Evolution story.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Vertical Aerospace for the electrical technology that will power their pioneering eVTOL aircraft.”
“This exciting opportunity demonstrates our ambitions to be a leading supplier of sustainable complete power systems for the new Urban Air Mobility market which has the potential to transform the way that people and freight move from city to city.”
The company has another vehicle called the VA-1X they are hoping to launch with a similar timetable. Like the VA-4X, this is a fully electric vehicle that will be powered by lithium-iron batteries.
Because it’s electric, the sound will be nothing like a traditional helicopter. Vertical claims it will be 30 times quieter because of its distributed propulsion system.
Honeywell Aerospace will be manufacturing the fly-by-wire computers for it, and is heavily involved in the creation of the prototype.
Now the important part; how do you get to ride on one of these or potentially own one?
Right now the company is planning on the VA-1X as being an air taxi, with the price ‘hovering’ around the same you would pay now for a traditional helicopter flight.
(Photos courtesy of Vertical Aerospace)
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