Ever since the beginning, PAL-V’s aim was to create a flying car for today's world.
The Liberty is a blend of proven aviation and automotive technologies, ensuring the making of the safest vehicle possible. Following this mantra, we naturally chose the venerable Rotax 912 as our initial engine of choice. Being one of the most used power sources in the General Aviation with hundreds of thousands of logged flight hours, this not only demonstrates the reliability of the engine but also its proven maintenance regime. As the engine is running on regular automotive petrol, it can easily be used for daily journeys. With the Liberty you are using existing infrastructure, besides normal highways and the many small airstrips, airports and private properties, you are also using normal highway petrol stations. Simply drive up to the nearest petrol station, fill your tank and in a few minutes you’re free to go wherever you desire!
The Liberty currently weighs in at just 664 kg which makes it energy efficient to become airborne. The heavier the vehicle, the more power is needed to get it flying, the more power, the more weight etc.
At PAL-V we are extremely focused on keeping the weight as low as possible to reduce the fuel burn rate. This is done by using very lightweight yet strong materials such as aviation grade metals, high-tech composites and the latest molding techniques. By doing so, we have created a flying car with a range of 500 km / 300 miles on just one tank of fuel, easily transporting you from London to Paris for example.
Big battery breakthroughs, average pace on 4% a year.
The Future
In aviation as in other modes of transport, we must keep an eye on future developments, partly because something designed today needs to be certified over the coming period before you can deliver the vehicle. Crucially, PAL-V is developing and certifying not only the Liberty vehicle platform itself but also the Design and Production organization. This is the basis of all future developments as a leader in personal flying mobility.
Naturally, PAL-V is looking into renewable energy and alternate greener propulsion methods. Flying solely on electricity and hydrogen for short distances is on the verge of taking-off and provides numerous opportunities for the Advanced Air Mobility market (AAM), but currently, the battery technology due to the heavy weight and lower power density does not offer the required performance yet. However, this is improving every year. With the current pace, All-Electric, high range flying could be a reality in 10 years from now, watch this space.
