PAL-V Liberty flying car made road-legal in Europe

The PAL-V Liberty has made history by becoming the first flying car to pass stringent safety and emissions homologation tests to allow it to be driven legally on European roads.

According to the Dutch flying car manufacturer, the Liberty was handed over to testers back in February this year for a rigorous and extensive test drive program that include evaluating its performance on roads and high-speed ovals before undergoing emissions and noise tests.

The irony is, despite now legal to use on road, it's still not permitted to fly within European airspace.

The Liberty has been undergoing a separate evaluation with the European Aviation Safety Agency that began back in 2015 and isn't expected to be finalised until 2022.

To be legal to fly, the Liberty must undergo 150 hours of flight testing – but only after an incredible 1200 test reports have been completed.

Only then will sales begin to customers.

Before that happens, PAL-V says it will continue to develop the Liberty on roads across Europe.

Weighing just 664kg, the Liberty is powered by an unspecified petrol engine that produces around 74kW.

That might sound weak, but thanks to that featherlight kerb weight the Dutch flying car is claimed to hit 100km/h in less than 9.0 seconds and top out at a limited 160km/h.

More relevant is the fact that the Liberty can cover 1315km between refills, thanks to a generous 100-litre tank.

In flight mode, that figure drops to 500km (with 30 minutes' worth of fuel in reserve) but the small flying car can cruise at 160km/h and top out at 180km/h legally.

Once certified to fly, PAL-V says it plans to price the Liberty from $US399,000 (about $A568,000) with a number of flying cars already sold.

Perhaps worryingly, of those cars already sold, 80 per cent of buyers have never flown before.

In response, PAL-V has created FlyDrive – a new training academy to teach owners how to safely fly their new Liberty.