{"id":9155,"date":"2014-08-08T17:44:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T00:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=9155"},"modified":"2014-08-08T17:54:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-09T00:54:21","slug":"eas-viii-joby-motors-simple-complex-airframes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/eas-viii-joby-motors-simple-complex-airframes\/","title":{"rendered":"EAS VIII: Joby Motors \u2013 on Simple and Complex Airframes"},"content":{"rendered":"

JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation<\/a>, Joby Motors<\/a>, and related enterprises, has thought long and hard about the financial costs and lost productivity brought about by the daily automotive commute, a 1.6 hour per day ordeal for many in our urban centers.\u00a0 JoeBen and the Atlantic<\/i> magazine<\/a> agree that commuters squander 5.5 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, stuck in the fitful despair of slow or unmoving traffic, sharing only frustration and polluted air with their fellow motorists.<\/p>\n

JoeBen told attendees at the April Electric Aircraft Symposium that several years before, he had the seeming pipe dream of moving people by air in a single-seat, eight-motorm, vertical takeoff and landing, electric commuter aircraft that would take one 100 miles at 100 miles per hour for one dollar.\u00a0 The combination of Greg Cole\u2019s Sparrowhawk and electric power focused too much on efficiency, according to JoeBen, and battery technology had not evolved to allow the practical outcome to this dream.\u00a0 With 250 Watt-hour-per-kilogram batteries now a reality, though, JoeBen thinks he can make some magic, creating a two-seat, 12 pivoting motor craft that could carry two people 200 miles at 200 mph for $20.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RwtySwWHu8Q<\/p>\n

As explained on Joby\u2019s web site, \u201cThis environmentally-friendly personal airplane requires 5 times less energy than conventional auto transportation at 5 times the door-to-door speed.\u201d\u00a0 The combination of speed and economy would make this a highly attractive alternative to the daily grind on the ground.<\/p>\n

The systems seem more complex than the original Monarch, with 12 motors pivoting individually instead of being mounted to one pivoting wing. In \u201cactive development,\u201d the S2 has garnered one of Popular Science\u2019s Invention Awards for 2014<\/a>, with the magazine listing the potential merits of the design.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupercomputer simulations of a full-scale, 1,700-pound S2 suggest it could fly two people about 200 miles (New York City to Boston) in an hour on 50 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or\u00a0roughly\u00a0equivalent to\u00a01.5 gallons\u00a0of fuel used by a typical two-seat airplane\u2014which would make the new aircraft about five times more efficient.\u201d\u00a0 They add, \u201cComputers adjust motor speed 4,000 times per second to optimize efficiency, reduce noise, and improve flight control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In cruise mode, the S2 would take two passengers at 200 mph to their selected destination (Joby Aviation)<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of the ideas for this aircraft were tested on a three-propeller machine flown above Joby\u2019s Santa Cruz, California development site.\u00a0 Another outcome of this testing is the Lotus, a long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspired by Mark Moore\u2019s Samara.<\/p>\n