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Electric Propulsion Systems for Flying Cars Coming From Honeywell, Denso in 2022

Off the top of my head, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about flying cars is The Fifth Element. Luc Besson’s sci-fi flick had plenty of these machines in it, and they were quite the sight. Yet never in a million years would I have thought back in 1997 that in just a few decades, humanity will seek to make sci-fi reality in this respect too.
Honeywell and Denso working on new electric propulsion for UAMs 4 photos
Photo: Honeywell
Honeywell and Denso working on new electric propulsion for UAMsHoneywell and Denso working on new electric propulsion for UAMsHoneywell and Denso working on new electric propulsion for UAMs
Flying cars (we’ll mostly use this rather improper term for the lack of a better one, as urban air mobility vehicles, or UAM, is too much of a mouthful) are presently something many companies and organizations are actively researching. Carmakers, aerospace companies, startups, and even space agencies are in on it, and if all goes well, we might get to see them in operation in the not-so-distant future.

The latest to join the fun is aerospace company Honeywell, which just jumped on the flying car train holding the hand of Toyota’s Denso. This week, the two announced a new partnership, aiming to develop, test and eventually fly electric propulsion systems for UAMs.

More to the point, the two will seek to create electric drives for air taxis and delivery vehicles and plan to have them ready sometime next year. This new agreement is an extension of the one signed in 2019, which called for the joint development of aircraft motors.

Full details on the project are not yet known, but we know the powertrains will be complete solutions, with motors, controllers, power, cooling, and fly-by-wire computers and avionics.

What we know absolutely nothing about is what are the flying cars that will eventually be using these new electric propulsions systems. But knowing both Denso and Honeywell, interested parties will probably pop up in no time, so we should get ready for a flood of such vehicles in no time.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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