Automobile and accompanying vertiport signify daring way forward for flight
Supernal LLC – Hyundai Motor Group’s Superior Air Mobility (AAM) firm – at the moment unveiled S-A2, its electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown (eVTOL) car product idea at CES 2024. The pilot-plus-four-passenger car marks the most recent milestone in Supernal’s roadmap to commercialize secure, environment friendly and inexpensive on a regular basis passenger air journey.
S-A2 builds on the Firm’s imaginative and prescient idea, S-A1, which it debuted at CES 2020, bringing collectively the progressive aerospace engineering and Hyundai Motor Group automotive aesthetic design to create a brand new mode of transportation to get folks in city areas from level A to level B quicker. Supernal will obtain business aviation security ranges and allow inexpensive manufacturing of its automobiles because it prepares to enter the market in 2028.
“From the start, Supernal has been on a mission to create the appropriate product and the appropriate market on the proper time,” mentioned Jaiwon Shin, president of Hyundai Motor Group and CEO of Supernal. “The revealing of S-A2 demonstrates our unwavering dedication to ship on that mission with a secure, environment friendly car design that gives a transparent path to market entry. By leveraging our gifted 600-person crew, the huge technical and enterprise capabilities of Hyundai Motor Group and trusted aviation suppliers around the globe, Supernal is able to ship a brand new period of flight.”
Technical Elements
S-A2 is a V-tail plane designed to cruise 120 miles-per-hour at a 1,500-foot altitude to satisfy typical metropolis operation wants of 25- to 40-mile journeys, initially. It encompasses a distributed electrical propulsion structure and has eight all-tilting rotors. At entry into service, Supernal’s car will function as quietly as a dishwasher: 65 dB in vertical take-off and touchdown phases and 45 dB whereas cruising horizontally.
The car is designed with a precedence on security and a deal with sustainability and passenger consolation. Engineered to realize the worldwide business aviation customary of security, it has a sturdy airframe construction together with redundant parts in important methods similar to powertrain, flight controls and avionics. The all-tilting rotor configuration will energy the car by means of each the vertical-lift and horizontal-cruise phases of flight with distinctive effectivity. To keep up superior high quality whereas additionally being cost-effective, the car will probably be manufactured leveraging Hyundai’s mass manufacturing functionality.
“Supernal’s product idea car is the results of the creativity and arduous work of our world-class crew. S-A2 is designed to take full benefit of rising electrical powertrain developments that can outline the subsequent technology of aviation,” mentioned Ben Diachun, chief expertise officer, Supernal. “From right here, we’ll develop this idea right into a revolutionary business product.”
As Supernal continues to optimize its car for certification, mass manufacturing and expanded use circumstances, the Firm can also be centered on inside modularity and battery upgradability. This contains the flexibility to switch the battery module as expertise advances.
Aesthetic Design
Supernal’s engineering groups partnered with Hyundai Motor Group’s automotive designers on S-A2’s aesthetics – mixing design with performance – that can appeal to aviation operators and create the popular AAM passenger expertise. Completely different coloration palettes and supplies delineate distinct pilot and passenger sections of the car. Aviation-grade, energy-absorbing parts are built-in into the seat frames, and contribute to the general clear, minimalist design. Lighting transitions all through phases of flight permit the cabin to really feel bigger and to supply visible cues, similar to the place to enter and exit the car.
“S-A2 is a real illustration of ‘auto meets aero.’ Drawing on the competence of Supernal’s high aerospace engineers and Hyundai Motor Group’s world-renowned automotive designers to create human-centric design that maximizes passenger expertise and security,” mentioned Luc Donckerwolke, president, chief design officer and chief artistic officer, Hyundai Motor Group.
Drawing on expertise from designing “good vehicles” with related environment friendly footprints and up to date award-winning electrical automobiles, Hyundai Motor Group’s designers additionally included the most recent in passenger expertise and automotive design best-practices into S-A2.
Supernal at CES 2024
S-A2 is on show inside the Supernal Vertiport exhibition at CES 2024, positioned within the Diamond parking zone subsequent to the West Corridor of the Las Vegas Conference Heart. The long run “transportation hub” brings collectively Supernal’s holistic imaginative and prescient for AAM, putting S-A2 in an operational setting. Attendees have the chance – below one roof – to see the car product idea, take a simulated flight above town of Los Angeles, find out about potential flight networks and the expertise to help them, in addition to perceive how vertiports and different transportation modes will create faster and simpler metropolitan journeys.
Vertiports signify a key component for AAM commercialization, serving because the origin, switch and vacation spot factors for eVTOL plane operations and present modes of transportation. Quiet electrical flight will allow vertiports to be in cities, at airports and elsewhere for seamless integration with present transit choices. Mixed with air site visitors management enhancements and superior micro-weather forecasting, S-A2 and vertiports will facilitate mobility far past what present and projected floor infrastructure can ship.
Click on right here for extra details about Supernal’s CES 2024 exhibition and S-A2 visuals.
