I don't see why any electric vehicle can't be part of the sustainable urban transportation future.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Would it be better if we built cities around public transport? Generally yes. Does that mean there isn't a place for electric aircraft, electric cars, and smaller personal electric vehicles (bicycles, scooters, segways, hoverboards, skateboards)? Nope. I don't think anyone in this thread thinks that all of our future transportation needs will be satisfied by flight.
And given our current state of global pandemic, I think we can probably agree that even without the pros of other forms of transport, public transit has its own unique downsides.
Right but the comparison is being made against "ground transportation" in the video. Light aircraft are already a component of urban travel (notably helicopters) and merely making them electrically powered isn't going to dramatically increase their utility which again is what the visualization in the video shows.
Making them electric is fairly important for a carbon-neutral/negative future though.
Also even without helicopters being fossil-fuel powered, they have a number of other downsides: not nearly as safe as winged aircraft, louder, harder to fly, etc.
Yes it's a great idea to make electric aircraft for all sorts of reasons. Notably this design (as per the paper linked elsewhere) gets 300% more efficient for just switching to electric motors.
I'm giving context to the discussion from the parent of this thread. The nascent category of aircraft is being heavily marketed as a replacement means of transport for commuters. Which is why people are talking about them in that context.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Would it be better if we built cities around public transport? Generally yes. Does that mean there isn't a place for electric aircraft, electric cars, and smaller personal electric vehicles (bicycles, scooters, segways, hoverboards, skateboards)? Nope. I don't think anyone in this thread thinks that all of our future transportation needs will be satisfied by flight.
And given our current state of global pandemic, I think we can probably agree that even without the pros of other forms of transport, public transit has its own unique downsides.