Skycar maker likes ethanol
Remember the Skycar (pictured)? Well, its maker, Moller International, Inc., finds ethanol to be a perfect fuel for its Rotapower(R) rotary engine line. The company had tested the engine using gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and alcohol and found it ran best using ethanol. States founder Paul Moller, "It runs so clean that when we disassemble and inspect the engine after a test it is spotless inside ... virtually like new." The company recommends its rotary engines, which are being considered for applications such as electric generators, RVs, scooters, to hybrid vehicles, all use ethanol.[Source: Business Wire]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ian Bruce 8:32PM (8/10/2006)
Who cares WHAT he thinks. Moller's blown over 200 million in investor's dollars over the past 40 years, and hasn't anything to show for it except a screaming loud Rube Goldberd device that can't go higher than 15 feet while attached to a crane. It's not even just a flawed design -- it's a scam.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/18/flying_car_letters/
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Jack 12:08PM (8/11/2006)
I know that one of the things that they were planning on building into this vehicle at some point was a GPS-based computer controlled driving. Using GPS or city-road beacons, each car would receive ‘clearance’ to fly along a certain path. A system like that would ensure that no two cars would ever get close enough to collide.
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Howard Lee Harkness 1:05PM (8/11/2006)
The Flying Car has been a staple of prediction in magazines for over five decades (that I personally remember; before that, I was too young to read). I would guess that it is at least five more decades off, so it's fairly likely that I'm gonna miss it. As a licensed pilot, I think I prefer it that way.
However, this thing is the obvious match for the ethanol-lovers; a car for people with way more money than good sense. Somebody dumb enough to buy this car (assuming that it ever becomes anything other than vaporware) is too stupid to fly it, so it would have to be completely automatic.
This thing is going to have to be more than 100x more reliable than any new car on the road, because there is no such thing as a 'minor' accident in an aircraft -- even running out of fuel can be fatal, and that includes for innocent bystanders. It's unlikely that the FAA is going to approve this vehicle. I don't think the technology is quite there yet.
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Moller Slave 2:20PM (10/02/2006)
The whole thing is a 40 year long scam. Nothing this guy has produced has ever flow as well as he claimed - most of them haven't actually flown at all. if you do the research, you will find some badly faked photos of the early vehicles, or shots of them rolling around in ground effect. Same goes for the engines. Always inflated claims, even claiming that they "clean the air" - come on!
It's sad, because the technoligies are somewhat viable, but this guy holds them hostage, and milks them for all his investors are worth. You will notice there really are no photographs up on his site of complete engines (or anything else) with all the accessories on them, just mockups or computer illustrations. Last pathetic flight of the "manned (NOT)" aircraft was 3-23-03, and that was just a short hover, in ground effect, with minimum payload. This guy is just after money...
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