Even though there is no flying car available for sale at the moment, at least three different manufacturers already try to estimate the retail price. Three main competitors are the Aeromobil, Terrafugia and PAL-V, however the word “competitors” can be hardly used to describe the relation between the three, because all of the manufacturers are using different approach to what we call a roadable aircraft or a flying car and therefore use completely different technologies and financial resources.
How much does a flying car cost?
Taking into consideration the costs related with development and production of the upcoming flying machines we can assume that the cost of a single unit will be somewhere around the cost of a modern exotic sport car like Pagani Huayra and a light sport aircraft or a helicopter which ranges from $300,000 to $800,000 depending on the powerplant, frame materials and board equipment.
- Aeromobil flying car with retractable wings: $300,000 – $600,000 USD.
- Pal-V one estimated cost: $300,000 – $400,000 USD.
- Terrafugia TF-X should lay in the price segment of $1,000,000 USD
What is the price of Aeromobil?
Aeromobil is using the concept of an aircraft with full size foldable wings that can be used on public roads. This concept is probably the closest to the production line, as the test version of their 3.0 model has already performed it’s first test flights and now in a process of passing safety tests. Even though the CEO of the Aeromobil Juraj Vaculik did not enclose the estimated sale price, he mentioned that their target market is wealthy supercar buyers and flight enthusiasts. Unofficial expected price range is $300,000 – $600,000 USD.
What is the cost of PAL-V?
Number two in the chart of flying car developers belongs to the Dutch company PAL-V with their hybrid of a three-wheel scooter and a helicopter which perfectly fits in the definition of a flying car. Since this project is using the helicopter motion principles we can assume that the cost of this unit will be higher than Aeromobil 3.0. The price of an average personal helicopter starts with about half of a million US dollars. Even though the initially announced price of the Pal-V One was stated at the mark of about $300,000 the company is probably targeting at a slightly higher price segment of about $400,000 and up.
Terrafugia TF-X flying car
Unfortunately there is no clear estimated release date of Terrafugia TF-X flying car, because the project is currently in the early stage of development, however, according to the information posted on their official website, the price on this model will be equal to a high-end exotic car, which lays somewhere in a $1,000,000 (one million dollar) range if we compare it to the Bugatti Veyron or Koenigsegg Agera.
Basing on the information above we can state that you should be pretty wealthy to use the advantage of a flying car even if it would be available for sale today. Aside from the cost of a vehicle itself we shouldn’t forget about the energy consuming factors, in other words about the gas mileage and maintenance expenses.
Flying car gas mileage and maintance expenses
We can easily imagine that a vertical takeoff requires much more energy than an automobile acceleration, especially in a case of a PAL-V roadable helicopter. A small helicopter, for instance, is rated at about 8 MPG, which is slightly more than a full size pickup truck Like a ford F250 would consume. Pal-V cosumes 40l per hour in the air and about 7/100 on the road.
Aeromobil and Terrafugia Transition are rated at a much better gas mileage of about 30-40 MPG which is pretty similar to a family sedan like a Honda Accord or Chevy Malibu.
Except for the fuel expenses we shouldn’t forget about the cost of maintenance, pilot license and tons of other fees that a new flying car owner should expect.
We can assume that the prices on these machines of the future will go down with time, after they will get in a mass production, but it’s not going to happen at least, let’s say 25 years.
A phrase Flying cars for sale – is no longer a myth and this is something that’s close to us like never before, so it’s just the time to start saving – your minimum goal is $300,000.
