网易科技讯9月15日消息，据国外媒体报道，迄今为止电池续航里程一直是飞行电动汽车无法解决的问题。本周在美国阿肯色州举行的一次空中出租车秘密会议上，卡门电气公司展示如何使用将飞行器与地面电力线连接起来，为其提供源源不尽的电力。但这种方法可行吗？

在新兴的飞行汽车行业面临的诸多挑战中，很少有哪个行业比电力更令人汗颜。更重的飞机往往需要更多的动力，这就需要更大容量的电池，更重的电池，从而使得飞机越来越重。你看到了两难的处境。那么，你如何走出这个死循环，找到一种平衡，让你以能够以一定的速度在空中飞行，而无需停下来充电呢?

一家初创公司认为，答案在于另一个问题:到底谁需要大容量电池?

总部位于旧金山的卡门电气公司提议将飞行汽车的电力需求与输送电力的需求区分开来。该公司希望将搭载乘客的电动飞行汽车与地面上的专用输电线连接起来，就像一辆倒过来的有轨电车那样。这架飞机将只需携带小型电池，以便在必要时能够脱离电线的牵绊，但它们的大部分电量将来自电线，使它们能够以高速长距离飞行。

还有几个问题。如果电缆被卡住了，或者有一只鸟正好处在飞行汽车前进的路径上，或者有一架直升飞机从旁边飞过，会发生什么?如果地面上停电了，或者两辆车的电线缠在一起了怎么办?你如何穿越广阔的水域或崎岖的地形?把一辆会飞的汽车绑在地面上，难道不会破坏整个计划的初衷吗?

卡曼公司联合创始人Chiranjeev Kalra是维珍公司Hyperloop One项目的朋友。其对上述一系列问题的解释出人意料地合理。首先，这些车辆只会在人口密集中心以外、距地10米到30米的高度采用地面输电线。如果飞行汽车在城市中飞行，或者接近目的地时，完全可以脱离电源线，利用自身携带的电池，这时飞行高度可达到1000米。Kalra说:“这部分飞行是不用输电线路的，仅仅靠飞行汽车所携带的电池工作，通常是所谓的城际旅行的第一英里或最后一英里。”

将电力直接从电网输送到移动中电动汽车的想法非常古老。电车已经出现了一个多世纪。在旧金山这样的城市，公共汽车和有轨电车都使用这种装置。这在火车上也很常见。甚至有人提出，这是一种用电力而不是柴油驱动长途卡车的有效方式。Kalra简单地颠覆了这个想法，并将其与空中交通工具的灵活性结合在一起。空中交通工具可以在任何需要的时候出发去任何地方，是火车无法做到的，关键在于如何与电网供电系统的效率结合起来。

该公司以匈牙利航空航天工程师Theodore von Karman的名字命名，在本周末于阿肯色州本顿维尔举行的一次只接受邀请的空中出租车秘密会议上，该公司首次展示了这个想法。卡曼的工程师们在两个支架之间串起一根电线，并让一架小型四轴飞行器在它们之间来回飞行。卡曼公司正在开发一种全尺寸的六旋翼演示设备，预计将在今年年底开始测试。

Kalra说，一个成熟的大规模系统可以在城市之间数百英里的续航范围内每小时运送10000人，以200英里的时速排成一列进行巡航飞行。这使得它比飞机的续航能力更强，因为飞机只能使用它自身所携带的能量。Kalra说，虽然这并没有消除对地面空间的需求，但架起这些电线仍然比建造超级高铁要容易得多。

这是一个完全开放的系统。“飞机可以在任何地点离开或切入电力轨道，在任何需要的地方着陆。在这些地面电力轨道入口处，无人机通过内置的所谓“电缆滑轨”连接地面电力轨道，然后通过相同的设备离开轨道。如果电缆确实被什么东西缠住了，一个快速释放装置就会阻止它将飞机拽下来，而飞机应该有足够的电池电量来保证其安全着陆。

当然，问题的关键并不在于这个想法和超级高铁相比的优势。这是它与实际存在的商业航空、高速公路、火车和城际公交网络的解决方案相比是否存在优势。它能在效率和成本上进行竞争吗?建造这种系统需要多长时间?维护需要多少成本?注入铺设数百英里长电缆这样的大型基础设施项目总是复杂而昂贵，至少在美国是这样。再考虑到飞行汽车领域已经面临的严重监管问题，这似乎是一个相当难以推销的产品。

但如果卡曼能够在不让自己陷入困境的情况下有效处理这些问题，至少它不必担心自己的电力来自何方。

英文版

English version

In the future, the short duration of a flying car is considered to be wired.

Netease Technology News September 15, according to foreign media reports, so far battery mileage has been flying electric vehicles can not solve the problem. Carmen Electric showed off how to use the aircraft to connect to ground power lines to provide endless power at a secret air taxi conference in Arkansas this week. But is this method feasible?

Of the many challenges facing the emerging flying car industry, few are more daunting than electricity. Heavier planes tend to require more power, which requires larger capacity batteries, heavier batteries, making the aircraft heavier and heavier. You see a dilemma. So how do you get out of this dead cycle and find a balance that allows you to fly at a certain speed without stopping to recharge?

A start-up thinks the answer lies in another question: who needs large capacity batteries?

Carmen Electric, based in San Francisco, has proposed to separate the power needs of flying cars from those of transporting them. The company wants to connect an electric flying car carrying passengers to a dedicated transmission line on the ground, like an upside-down tram. The aircraft will only need to carry small batteries to be able to escape the wire if necessary, but most of their power will come from the wire, allowing them to fly at high speeds and over long distances.

There are still several questions. What happens if the cable gets stuck, or a bird is in the path of a flying car, or a helicopter flies by? What happens if there's a power failure on the ground, or two cars are wired together? How do you cross broad waters or rugged terrain? How do you get a flying car? Does the car bind to the ground, will not destroy the original intention of the whole plan?

Kaman Corporation co-founder Chiranjeev Kalra is a friend of virgin's Hyperloop One project. His explanation for the above problems is surprisingly reasonable. First, these vehicles will use ground-based transmission lines only 10 to 30 meters away from densely populated centers. If the flying car is flying in the city, or close to the destination, it can completely leave the power line, using its own battery, then the flight altitude can reach 1000 meters. Kalra said: "This part of the flight does not require transmission lines, and it operates solely on the batteries carried by the flying cars, usually the first or last mile of what is known as intercity travel."

The idea of transferring electricity directly from the grid to mobile electric vehicles is very old. Trams have been around for more than a century. In cities like San Francisco, buses and trams use this device. This is also common on trains. It has even been suggested that this is an effective way to drive long-distance trucks with electricity instead of diesel. Kalra simply subverted the idea and combined it with the flexibility of air traffic. Air vehicles can go anywhere at any time of need, which is impossible for trains. The key lies in how to combine with the efficiency of the grid power supply system.

Named after Hungarian aerospace engineer Theodore von Karman, the company unveiled the idea for the first time this weekend at an invitation-only secret conference on air taxis in Bentonville, Arkansas. Kaman's engineers strung a wire between the two supports and sent a small four-axis aircraft flying back and forth between them. Kaman is developing a full-scale six-rotor demonstration facility, which is expected to begin testing by the end of this year.

Kalra said a sophisticated large-scale system could deliver 10,000 people per hour over hundreds of miles of range between cities, cruising at 200 miles an hour in a row. This makes it more powerful than aircraft, because aircraft can only use the energy it carries. Although this does not eliminate the need for ground space, it is still much easier to erect these wires than to build super high-speed trains, Kalra said.

This is a fully open system. "The aircraft can leave at any point or cut into the power track and land anywhere. At the entrance to these ground power tracks, the UAV connects to the ground power track via a built-in so-called "cable slideway" and then leaves the track with the same equipment. If the cable does get caught in something, a quick release device will prevent it from pulling the plane down, and the plane should have enough battery power to ensure a safe landing.

Of course, the key is not the superiority of the idea compared with the super high speed rail. This is whether it has an advantage over existing solutions for commercial aviation, highways, trains, and inter-city bus networks. Can it compete in efficiency and cost? How long does it take to build the system? How much does it cost to maintain it? Injecting large infrastructure projects like laying hundreds of miles of cable is always complex and expensive, at least in the United States. Considering the serious regulatory problems already facing the flying car sector, this seems to be a rather difficult product to sell.

But if Kaman can deal with these problems effectively without letting himself get into trouble, at least it doesn't have to worry about where his electricity comes from.

（文来源：飞行汽车feiauto）www.feiauto.com

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