Reuters — Ohio-based electric vehicle manufacturer Workhorse has unveiled ambitious plans to reinvent personal transportation with the SureFly octocopter.
Making its public debut at the Paris Air Show ahead of piloted test flights later this year, Workhorse founder Stephen Burns told Reuters: “It’s basically a massive drone.”
The two-seater SureFly does indeed resemble a much larger version of a traditional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It has two propellers on each of its four arms, with a gasoline piston engine driving dual generators to provide power to the prop motors. In case of engine failure it contains a battery pack with enough power to help it land safely, as well as a parachute should all other options fail. The four propeller arms are retractable to minimize the footprint of the craft to roughly the same as a large car.
“What we’re trying to do here is reinvent the helicopter, bring the helicopter down to where an average person can use it,” Burns told Reuters at the Paris Air Show.
“It’s designed to be super safe; it has a gasoline generator that generates electricity for eight electric motors directly coupled to the props. But should that generator fail, we have five minutes of lithium batteries to get you down safely. And on top of that, if everything else fails, we have a ballistic parachute.”
The hybrid aircraft is designed for ‘short hop’ journeys, with an estimated maximum range of 70 miles on a single tank of fuel. It has a top speed of about 70 miles-per-hour (112 kph) and will reach altitudes of about 4,000 ft.
While Workhorse sees it potential as a personal vehicle for everyday use, Burns said interest is likely to come from farmers, as well as emergency responders who need a quick, agile craft without the training required to pilot a helicopter.
“It can hold 400 pounds of people and cargo. So it might be instead of a pilot and a passenger, it might be a pilot and a farmer with 200 pounds of fertilizer, it might be an emergency responder trying to get there before the ambulance gets there, it might be military. But it might be a commuter, it might be an air taxi; there’s many uses for this type of vehicle,” said Burns.
One key issue remains: the SureFly has yet to get airborne. But Workhorse says the craft is scheduled to makes its first test flights later this year, with the company confident of approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
“We’re hoping to get certified as a light sport aircraft (that can be used with) 20 hours of training,” said Burns. “If you can fly a drone, you can fly this.”
Workhorse is currently taking pre-orders for SureFly. Pending successful testing and FAA approval, the firm says it will be on the market in 2019 with a target price of $200,000 USD.