A $680K Moto/Battery Powered Jet-Ski for the Sky? 

A new face in the Advanced Air Mobility, or AAM-Adjacent market, has appeared in Japan touting their "world's first practical hoverbike" at the Fuji Raceway. The initial demonstration was distinctly Japanese in its appearance, showing the crowded stands what they can expect out of the current state of hoverbike technology without the usual hype and exaggerated, fantastical performance of the final product.

The XTurismo Limited Edition model will be sold north of half a million dollars, with only 200 units available. Powered by a combination of battery power and traditional gas engine, it can carry a payload of 100kg, or ~220 lb. Cruise time is estimated at half an hour, with a to-be-disclosed max speed rumored to be around 62 mph. 

At the demo, crowds watched a tightly leathered pilot, equipped just like the track’s superbike riders, stride out and, after a brief preflight, mount the XTurismo. The pilot thumbed the ignition and the crowd was treated to a rising crescendo, a sonic medley of a wide-open sportbike engine with the loud, high pitched thrum of a very large drone. After the noise stabilized to a constant, grating buzz, the machine ascended and stabilized at 15 feet or so, then began hovering in place, slowly meandering around the section of speedway facing the stands and advancing for the photographers at a brisk walking pace. After two slow, 180-degree turns, the pilot landed once again. 

In a field of constant development and the rapid release of new AAM products all contending for the same slice of VC funding and industry attention, it is easy to forget the differences in corporate culture between western product launches and Japan. The staid, boring appearance could optimistically be seen as an earnest demonstration of exactly what's possible at this point in the developmental cycle, with A.L.I. Technologies free from the need to court funding sources.

The promotional video on the XTurismo website is a near clone of the visual style of automotive game classic  Gran Turismo, with slow panning over a digitally rendered bike before showing it hover slowly over the same familiar speedway setting from the series. It's an appropriate marketing approach for their target market, at least, advertising a vehicle that supercar owners and wealthy auto sport enthusiasts don't yet have in their inventory. The price is quoted as 77.7 million yen, somewhere around $683,000 in current U.S. Dollars. 

The bike itself looks closer to a wide-hulled jet-ski than a sportbike, despite their efforts to make the fuselage appear as sleek and streamlined as possible. Like many insular projects from the region, it is somewhat freed of communal design practices and industry trends. Most hovercraft, advanced aerial transports, and personal air cars tend to be powered almost exclusively by battery power for vital sustainability cachet. Larger, multi-passenger AAMs may include a small turbine to generate additional power on the go, but the XTurismo breaks even from that convention in favor of a standard internal combustion engine and battery system. Details remain sparse at the moment, but the live test sounded much like a motorcycle’s inline 4 as it ran up the RPM range to steadily hang at maximum output, briefly dipping with changes in thrust demand and power demands. 

While the XTurismo could use a bit more time in the oven, it does seem that there is enough there to someday achieve the company’s promise of "an emotional experience that moves you". 

FMI: www.xturismo.com