What is Honda's next EVTOL in the era of the automotive industry 100 years?

A new mobility development of new mobility ecosystems based on the new mobility (Electrical Vertical Take Off and Landing), a new mobility (electric vertical detached landing aircraft), a new mobility (Electrical Vertical Take Off and Landing) in the era of changes in the automotive industry 100 years.Was announced by Honda.

We asked Mr. Shun Kawabe, a new mobility domain, a new mobility domain, a new mobility domain, a fellow, about why Honda was working and the possibility of the business.

Mr. Kawabe is a continuous online seminar held on November 26 [consecutive seminars] Takaki Nakanishi's motor, mobility industries Insight Vol.1 Honda, and "A new mobility ecosystem with EVTOL (electric vertical detached landing aircraft) as the coreWe plan to give a lecture on the theme of "creation".

---: First, please tell us the background of the mobility of EVTOL.

Mr. Kawabe: As you know, Honda has developed businesses such as four -wheels, motorcycles, and general purpose for more than 50 years, and has been conducting business by delivering it to customers, but Case or EVs for several years.The wave of conversion is coming, and I feel a sense of crisis that the survival of the company may be severe if the current business continues, and if Honda does the same thing as it is, it will not survive.rice field.

The Honda's identity we think is that Soichiro Honda has a bicycle engine and everyone is pleased.The motivation is to create mobility with technologies and ideas that are not in the world of the world and make customers happy.The identity has not changed, and has been discussing how to survive.

The other is our organization reform.Fine and motorcycle mass -produced vehicle development functions have been integrated into the headquarters function.It is an organizational reform to make decision -making in order to improve business and make good profits during a serious market change period.

Who is thinking about the business 10 years from now as the creation of focusing on the reconsideration of the current business?Until now, the Basic Research Institute has not asked much of the future business in the research, and there was a elaborate atmosphere that could do unique research, but since then we (Basic Research Institute) has greatly developed.。We decided that we were the only one to seriously create a future business that supports Honda employees and the company.

Our vision is to provide customers with new value and say, "Thanks to Honda, thank you!"In order to be able to say that to customers, it is necessary to deliver not only real research, but also social implementation.I am doing this research with such a vision.

What is Honda's next EVTOL in the era of the automotive industry 100 years?

"HONDA EVTOL" Fixed -type rotor for vertical detachment and landing and fixed rotor for thrust can be checked

---: I think there were many other mobility options in such circumstances, but why did you choose EVTOL?

Mr. Kawabe: In our company, there are many members who travel abroad, but what I felt was that, for example, a transit of airplanes in the United States for hours, and conversely, the area around the airport such as Los Angeles was congested.I couldn't get close to it, and about the movement between cities, I felt that the US airport was a lot of capacity and the stress of moving was strong.

We thought that such a problem should be managed somehow, but in such a situation, we sympathized with the concept of Uber Elevate and other ventures proposed by other ventures.

As we mentioned, we just want to create the next business in Honda, so the future market size of EVTOL is an important factor.Regarding new empty mobility by EVTOL, the market size forecast of our planning department is that the market size of the current automotive industry is 200-300 trillion yen, while the market size of EVTOL is about 2050.We predict that it will reach 30 trillion yen.In some other research companies, there are some places that predict 100 trillion yen or more.We set the goal of creating Honda's next business seriously, and believe that it is important to have sufficient market potential when investing research resources.

---: There are various forms, such as Joby-like tilt type and multicopter like Volocopter, for Honda's EVTOL, but why did it become a concept like the current EVTOL?

Kawabe: First, we took a considerable amount of time to extract the demands required by the aircraft from the needs of our customers.As a result, we have found that there is a major need for moving in cities, such as urban movements and airport shuttles, as well as short distances within 100 km, but for middle -distant cities within 400 km.

In order to move that distance, it must be an aircraft that can speed up to some extent.For example, multicopter is not structurally unable to get much speed.In addition, the battery alone did not get enough cruising range, and the choice was a hybrid.

Next, an aircraft design that takes into account the model certification that guarantees the safety of flight is required.The safety is particularly considered from the experience of Honda Jet and Jet Engine (Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Bureau).It is necessary to consider safety from a very large perspective, but one of them is one of the measures when one rotor is damaged.

Even if any trouble occurs somewhere in the aircraft, including the rotor, it is necessary to design so that it can be properly descended on the ground.Even if it is a VTOL machine (vertical removal landing machine), it is a configuration with wings and landing gear that generate lift so that it can land on the runway in an emergency.

In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the arrangement for rotating items (rotors).For example, when the rotor is damaged, it must be designed to be considered not to scatter a part, and that other parts will not be broken or harmful to others.

One of the features is that the rotor is not a tilt method.When considering configuration, we examined from various perspectives, including the tilt rotor, but finally this configuration.

And about the power source.First of all, the battery is the most clean, simpler and attractive, but compared to liquid fuel, only one tens of amounts of energy is currently 1.The condition of being heavy is fatal for vehicles flying in the sky.Moreover, liquid fuel has a wonderful characteristic that it becomes empty and becomes lighter when it burns.

Honda has set the goal of making a four -wheeled vehicle into an EV in 2040, so we are studying the battery with a lot of resources, but the battery ability has been in the next 10 or 20 years.I think it would be difficult to order the energy density of 10 times now, and to be able to fly a sufficient cruising range with aircraft.

Another thing, from the experience of developing EVs in cars, we have experienced a lot of battery power other than flight.For example, it is necessary to keep the temperature inside the cabin comfortably even when the temperature is low, and the battery itself must be warmed or cooled.

In addition, considerable power is required for avionics (electronic devices for aircraft flight).Considering these things, I think that the battery capacity of the battery can be used for flight considerably.According to the FAA regulations, it is also required to secure a certain amount of energy for emergency so that it can be urgently landed even if there is something.

---: Is gas turbine a so-called series hybrid?

Kawabe: That's right.It's a combination of a simple gas turbine and a generator developed using F1 technology.

---: Is that mainly lightweight?

Kawabe: That's right.In the early stage of the research, I also prototyped a power unit that combines the reciprocating engine and the motor of the hybrid car, and tested it, but when I hovered, there was no ground speed, so I needed water cooling equipment such as a radiator and became heavy.I got it.After such experience, we have selected a gas turbine hybrid with a very high energy density.

---: Is gas turbine good as a generator?

Mr. Kawabe: There is also that, and it is also a big point that you can use your core technology.Honda is an automobile company, but he has jet engine technology and has developed F1 power units.Furthermore, if you take advantage of your experience, such as EVs, various hybrid systems, and the world's first level 3 autonomous cars, you can open a different world from ventures that can only be done by Honda.I think.

What is Honda's next EVTOL in the era of the automotive industry 100 years?

---: What kind of market do your company specifically imagine this EVTOL use case?

Mr. Kawabe: Because it takes time to develop infrastructure such as traffic control and heliport, in the early stages that are not yet sufficient, we are considering replacing helicopters.

The reason why the current helicopter is not widespread is the reason why safety and noise are two major reasons.Unfortunately, there are still accidents, and the noise, for example, in a heliport in Manhattan, New York, the noise is too large and the operation has been narrowed down.

With a hybrid EVTOL, it is not a large rotor like a helicopter, so the noise is small, and the safety is set as a requirement as a requirement for a low failure rate as an aircraft flying on the airline.As a next -generation helicopter, I think that if you are the same safety performance as the airline, you can ride without hesitation.

---: What is the difference in safety compared to a normal helicopter?

Mr. Kawabe: The helicopter is mechanically connected to the engine and the rotor, and if it breaks in one place, it will lead to a fatal event.But EVTOL has multiple rotors, which is connected by electric wires, not machines.Even if one is broken, it is said that it can fly with the remaining rotor, but this is a major point.

---:I see.Are there any other issues for realization?

Mr. Kawabe: In order for drones and EVTOL to fly in the sky, it is essential to use UTM ( * Unmanned Traffic Management Drone Operation Management System), that is, traffic management.This is now being discussed around the world, such as the United States and Europe, but since the traffic management of the empty traffic is part of security and is involved in national secrets, there is a strong tendency for each country to create mechanisms.

Some say that it is slow to use in 2030, but I think it will take some time to prove the safety of EVTOL, which is a new flight mobility, and obtain a model certification.In order for more EVTOL to fly around, it will be after the UTM is implemented in the world, so I don't think 2030 is too late.

It takes a considerable amount of time to obtain a certification even with a fixed wing airplane, but we believe that it is even more difficult challenge for EVTOL to fly around the city.In order to work as a business, you must obtain a certification.

---: As a practical image, is the first replacement of a helicopter rather than the interstetrics of cities?

Kawabe: It depends on when our certification is obtained and how much traffic management at that time has been completed.Perhaps someone invent a groundbreaking battery, or conversely, it may take longer than we thought of a traffic management discussion.Certification may take longer than expected.

Therefore, the project is very highly robust as a project, and we emphasize how to proceed flexibly even when a change occurs.

---: In anticipation of the evolution of the battery, do you have the option of battery-type EVTOL?

Mr. Kawabe: I don't know how much the battery evolves, but it takes a track record to ensure the same safety as an airplane, so it's been a few years since it was invented before it was actually installed in EVTOL.I think it will take the above period.Rather than being able to do business after waiting for the evolution of the battery, we will consider a strategy to deliver the value to customers quickly and respond to the evolution of the battery.

---: Is there a possibility that the mobility pelator will provide EVTOL as mobility or your company will become a servicer?

Kawabe: This is still undecided.This is very difficult, but we are considering what kind of form is the best business.It's an ecosystem design with EVTOL as a core.This is another big challenge.

Extremely, we have not decided whether to manufacture EVTOL.I want to create a wonderful EVTOL with our own hands, but it's another story to create and produce factories.Although the type of business is different, Apple and Amazon are just doing business with services.In order for Honda to survive, I think that it is necessary to become a company that makes use of our core, making it even more, grasping the whole ecosystem and selling services.

---: Does EVTOL are also considering the possibility of having them be made in places like foxconn?

Kawabe: That may be the case.As we presented at the EVTOL recital the other day, creating the aircraft and creating an ecosystem.That means considering that possibility.

Click here for Honda, a consecutive online seminar held on November 26, held on November 26 [continuous seminar] Takaki Nakanishi's car and mobility industries Insight Vol.1 Honda.