1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Featured Meet the SD-03, the Hot New Japanese Electric Car.

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by kenmce, Aug 31, 2020.

  1. kenmce

    kenmce High Voltage Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2004
    1,539
    513
    0
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    Limited
    Demo model only has about a four minute range, but those four minutes are awesome:

    Sky Drive Inc. conducted the public demonstration on August 25, the company said in a news release, at the Toyota Test Field, one of the largest in Japan and home to the car company's development base. It was the first public demonstration for a flying car in Japanese history.

    SkyDrive Conducts First Public Manned Flight in Japan – SD-03 manned model makes its world debut- | SkyDrive Inc. -Flying car-

    Video of it operating in ground effect:


     
    #1 kenmce, Aug 31, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2020
    Rmay635703 and bisco like this.
  2. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    7,856
    6,658
    0
    Location:
    Redneck Riviera (Gulf South)
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Those blades will at least keep people from messing with the car.
    I see the makings of a fairly robust anti-theft system here.

    Other than that.....it's a pretty good test platform for attempting to conquer range anxiety.
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    110,156
    50,059
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i wondered how long until manned drones. looks like the jetsons are coming sooner than later.

    this could be the end of tesla, i hope they adapt quickly
     
  4. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2016
    2,609
    1,624
    0
    Location:
    Somewhere in Wisconsin
    Vehicle:
    2013 Chevy Volt
    Model:
    N/A
  5. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    10,985
    8,886
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Why do they call this "flying car"? I don't see any wheels on it. Is it a car? I think it is a personal quadcopter?
     
    Trollbait likes this.
  6. kenmce

    kenmce High Voltage Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2004
    1,539
    513
    0
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    Limited
    consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds... :D
     
  7. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2005
    20,181
    8,355
    54
    Location:
    Montana & Nashville, TN
    Vehicle:
    2018 Chevy Volt
    Model:
    Premium
    It's ridiculous. Real choppers & the pilots have to practice emergency zero power landings .... autorotation. That spinning blade is like a fixed wing on an airplane. It will spin & allow enough lift to at least (hopefully) make a walk-away landing.
    Here's an older chopper practicing;



    The teeny drone blades do not create the sufficient emergency landing capability. It stops? you drop like a rock. Better be over water, & no higher than 15 feet, & no more speed than maybe 30mph in order to give you a 50/50 chance of surviving power fail.
    .
     
    #7 hill, Sep 2, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2020
  8. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2013
    3,904
    1,338
    1
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    reminded me somehow of the fifth element 2 minute trailer

    or Idiocracy 1:39 trailer

    In the 60's I used to dream of having a helicopter that would fold into a briefcase as I rode my bike to school every day.
     
  9. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    22,449
    11,762
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Perhaps the blades in free fall can charge the battery enough to provide power to brake the fall at the end, like autorotation.

    This isn't the first manned concept to make use of a drone's rotor arrangement.