Abstract: In-depth understanding and investigation of the flight dynamics and key performances of electric flying cars under urban air mobility(UAM) scenarios is of great significance for the technical research and development of aviation power battery systems. First, seven typical state-of-the-art flying cars are reviewed in terms of concepts and dynamic models. Then, the key performance metrics of flying cars under UAM scenarios are comprehensively investigated, including range, payload, cruising speed, energy efficiency, power retention rate, economy, environmental impact, and safety, which are compared with common terrestrial vehicles. Additionally, the effective measures to improve the above key performance metrics are elaborated from the perspective of power battery systems. The results show that for a 60 km point-to-point travel, the electric flying car can save about 75 min compared with an electric passenger car. The energy efficiencies of all types of flying cars are comparable to those of terrestrial vehicles when the aircraft operate with full load and full range. Especially, the tilt-rotor, tilt-wing, lift plus cruise, and tilt-duct aircraft have similar energy efficiency, compared to electric passenger cars. The flying car battery cell experiences a peak current of more than 5 C rate during the take-off and landing segments of the flight, resulting in power loss of around 10% on the battery system side, whereas the electric vehicle battery only loses about 4%. Such power loss increases with the battery degradation. In the long term, fixed-wing flying cars have significant advantages in terms of range, payload and energy efficiency, and are the best choice for typical UAM scenarios such as urban airbus and point-to-point transport.

Key words: urban air mobility, electric flying cars, battery systems, performance metrics