Q&A: A flying Rolls-Royce
The electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle may not have a snazzy name, but it’s a flying car that uses electric power to fly at up to 250mph. We speak to Rolls-Royce’s Carl Bourne about why it could replace helicopters
The firm looks to the sky with a concept vehicle.
FLYING CARS ARE a classic bit of future tech: they highlight the fantasy and imagination inherent in engineering creations that don’t yet exist, as well as the hype around impossible products. We’ve been promised flying cars for decades, but we’re still driving around on the ground.
Uber has laid out plans for a skyborne taxi, and Google founder Larry Page is developing a “personal flying vehicle” as a side project, but neither have history in aircraft — unlike Rolls-Royce. The British engineering and manufacturing firm knows exactly how to build a flying machine, so there’s no wonder its concept “car” sparked attention when shown off at the Farnborough International Airshow over the summer.
Officially known as the electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) vehicle, the concept uses gas turbine technology to generate electricity. This powers six propulsors, designed to be quiet when operating. An onboard battery stores power generated during the flight by the gas turbine, so no recharging is necessary. The wings rotate after vertical launch, folding out of the way once cruising altitude is reached.
The hybrid flying machine concept could carry up to five passengers at speeds of 250mph, and Rolls-Royce predicts it could be available by the early 2020s for personal transport, logistics or military use. Carl Bourne, VP for strategy and intelligence at Rolls-Royce, explains why the EVTOL is such a clever idea.
How does the EVTOL work?
The most striking thing about the technology is its propulsion. Traditionally, aircrafts have been powered mechanically, with a heat engine. In the airshow at Farnborough, we’re using electricity as the propulsion form. So, we have an engine on board the vehicle that generates electricity. We can generate and use electricity in a novel way, [which] allows us to distribute the way energy flows around the vehicle and we can use propulsors in a way that allows us to reconfigure what a vehicle does.
Why is it useful to change the shape of the vehicle?
When we’re flying in a forward mode, we can have propellers mounted to the back; when we want to land, we can reconfigure the vehicle. It’s relatively easy to change the vehicle’s shape and its form, and we can use that to take off and land vertically.
It’s a tilt-wing configuration, so when we want to land or take off vertically, we can literally point the propeller straight up and the vehicle configured in that format is like a helicopter. And we can use electricity powered from the engine – and also supported by batteries – to allow the aircraft to take off like a helicopter. When it gets to cruising altitudes we want, then we can tilt the wing to look more like a conventional aircraft and then fly that way. That allows us to have the best of both worlds.
Who is this for?
Initially, we’re looking at intercity missions. If somebody wants to fly from, say, London to Paris, then we could provide a platform potentially lower-cost than a helicopter, more efficient than a helicopter [and] an easier fly. That sort of vehicle could cater to a number of different helicopter markets today, so things like paramedics and potentially military applications.
The best way for us to understand what will happen is to actually start to engineer possible products. We looked at what others were doing in the space, things like the Uber initiative, and we can see what they’re trying to do. We’ve also spotted what we thought was a gap in the market, in terms of looking at aircraft which were more capable, which could fly further, which could fly faster. There’s already a market for those type of vehicles today… and ultimately, if the technology proves itself, we can attract other markets and other customers.