Electric flying cars, quick and quiet, graduate from testing to takeoff
Electric flying cars are spreading their wings, with all kinds of new plans and partnerships, and new showcases opening up. Last month, New York City hosted the world’s first public urban event starring multiple electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Next month, CES, the premier consumer electronics event, will feature Supernal, Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Air Mobility company, with its eVTOL flying car in a “vertiport” exhibition in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
And there’s now a hybrid electric flying car that transforms into a road-legal vehicle in under three minutes.
But first we go to New York City.
Sunday, November 12, 2023 was a pleasant day in New York, partly sunny with a temperature of 45°F and the wind from the north at 4.3 miles per hour, perfect for an event that Mayor Eric Adams had been planning for months.
At the Downtown Heliport in Manhattan, Mayor Adams announced the city’s plan to electrify the heliport, establishing New York as a leader in clean, quiet flight.
Noisy helicopters have been making life miserable for sound-sensitive New Yorkers for decades, but recently helicopter noise complaints have skyrocketed, from 10,359 complaints in 2020, to 25,821 just one year later. The mayor wants to give his constituents a break by encouraging much quieter electric aircraft instead.
“TODAY, WE ARE TAKING SUSTAINABILITY TO THE SKY AND OUR STREETS, AND NEW YORKERS CAN FEEL THE ELECTRICITY IN THE AIR IN OUR CITY AS WE ELECTRIFY OUR HELIPORT INFRASTRUCTURE. … WE WILL NOT ONLY PUT NEW YORK CITY AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF SUSTAINABLE FLIGHT TECHNOLOGY WHILE ADDRESSING A PERSISTENT QUALITY-OF-LIFE ISSUE WITH HELICOPTER NOISE, BUT ALSO GET TRUCKS OFF THE ROAD AND MAKE OUR STREETS SAFER.” –Eric Adams, Mayor, New York City
“Our vision for the Downtown Manhattan Heliport will create the world’s first heliport with infrastructure for electric-powered aircraft and put this public asset to work for New Yorkers as a hub for sustainable transportation and local deliveries,” Mayor Adams said.
The electric aircraft will keep the airspace safe and quiet, too, as air taxis will fly along pre-determined, charted routes, according to the regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA.
“The Adams Administration has been a leader in driving technology innovation and economic growth while simultaneously improving quality of life,” said Andrew Kimball, New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) president and CEO.
“EDC’s new strategy for the Downtown Manhattan Heliport reflects these priorities while making it an industry leader in the embrace of eVTOLS – a quieter and greener helicopter alternative – while at the same time facilitating maritime freight with last mile e-bike deliveries that takes trucks off the roads,” Kimball said, and he didn’t have to shout to be heard.
On that November Sunday, two eVTOL makers flew quiet, smooth demonstrations of their airborne electric flying cars – Joby Aviation from Santa Cruz, California, which is developing aircraft for commercial passenger service, and Volocopter, a German aircraft manufacturer specializing in electric multi-rotor helicopters for air taxis.
With the Lower Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background, the Volocopter 2X electric air taxi flew, weathering East River conditions, producing zero emissions in flight and very little noise pollution.
Christian Bauer, managing director, Volocopter, said that for his company, “…a city’s urban air mobility ecosystem is as important as developing or operating a sustainable and safe flying aircraft. We are honored to be a part of this grand public showcase, and to prove that eVTOLs are immediate contributors to the sustainability of New York City.”
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO, Joby Aviation, said, “By electrifying one of the most famous heliports in the world, Mayor Adams and his team are laying the groundwork for New York City to become a global leader in the adoption of electric flight. With their support, we plan to make quiet, emissions-free flight an affordable, everyday reality for New Yorkers, connecting places like downtown Manhattan and JFK Airport in under 10 minutes.”
Joby expects to launch its eVTOL commercial passenger service in 2025.
Joby plans to offer fast, quiet journeys using its piloted, four-passenger, emissions-free electric aircraft that can fly up to 100 miles on a single charge, covering 99 percent of all trips across New York City. Traveling from Manhattan to JFK International Airport can take more than an hour by car, but Bevirt expects the trip to take just seven minutes by air.
Through its partnership with Delta Air Lines, Joby is working with the Port Authority of New York and the EDC as they plan for initial operations, including the development of infrastructure at two of New York’s three airports, JFK and LaGuardia International. This builds on recent investments Delta has made to upgrade the customer experience at its New York hubs.
Since 2017, Joby has flown more than 30,000 miles with its full-scale prototype eVTOL aircraft. The company recently celebrated the first aircraft to roll off its pilot production plant in Marina, California, and delivered the first electric air taxi to Edwards Air Force Base in California for on-base testing as part of a contract with the Air Force worth $130 million.
Joby said that it expects New York to be one of its early launch markets after receiving certification from the FAA, and the company has now received FAA approval to conduct test flights.
As of 2018, Joby has been financially supported by US$100 million in funding, led by the venture arms of Intel, JetBlue, and Toyota.
Getting Certified
In April 2023, the FAA issued its first certification of an eVTOL aircraft to Guardian Agriculture to operate its crop spraying aircraft nationwide.
In June, California-based Alef Aeronautics unveiled its electric flying car, “Model A,” the first of its kind to receive legal approval to fly from the FAA. The Model A has a 200-mile driving range and can fly for 110 miles on a charge. The company says that within a three-month period it took 440 orders for the $350,000 flying car.
On December 1, 2023, Miami, Florida’s Doroni Aerospace was granted an Airworthiness Certification from the FAA for its eVTOL Doroni H1. In addition to personal everyday use, the aircraft will be used in military, first responder, and law enforcement situations.
Calling his aircraft “an eco-friendly, efficient, and exhilarating way to travel,” Doron Merdinger, CEO of Doroni Aerospace, said the company has pre-order list for more than 370 eVTOLs.
Most current designs from all companies mentioned here are powered by lithium-ion batteries, although some designs use hydrogen fuel cells to achieve emissions-free flight.
The eVTOL Market is Zooming
In a new report, Stratview Research, based in India, finds that the eVTOL market is likely to rise at a lucrative compound annual growth rate of more than 50 percent during 2025-2030, to reach US$55.7 billion in 2040.
The report suggests that currently the presence of eVTOL manufacturers is evenly distributed between North America and Europe. Yet the number of upcoming programs from the North American region far exceeds that of Europe, so North America is set to dominate the market in the future, the report states.
The market is driven by government regulations intended to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. Plus, increasing urbanization and population growth have led to congestion, creating a need for new transportation solutions, Stratview reports.
In July, the FAA released a report outlining its plan to integrate eVTOLs into the U.S. aircraft ecosystem. The FAA’s Innovate28 plan says the first eVTOLs will fly commercially in 2025.
Air taxis and flying cars will be traveling over urban areas in sizable numbers by 2028, the FAA predicts.
“The Innovate28 plan includes various components, and the sequence they will occur in for operations to be at scale at one or more sites by 2028,” the FAA said in a statement. “The plan will serve as a foundation for making entry into service routine and predictable, by maximizing the use of existing procedures and infrastructure.”
Stakeholders include aircraft developers, the energy industry, labor groups, NASA, states and cities, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The first phase of implementation, 2025 – 2028, will find electric aircraft flying from existing airports and heliports fitted with charging stations, analysts say. After that period, “vertiports,” or specialized transportation hubs will be used to expand the networks.
The Innovate28 report says that the FAA is working with more than “two dozen manufacturers” of eVTOL technologies in the United States and abroad. A number of manufacturers, such as Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium, and others, have said they plan to be flying commercially by 2025.
European and Asian eVTOLs Fly Up and Away
Lilium, developer of the first eVTOL jet, announced the start of production of their unique aircraft in Munich, Germany on December 6, 2023.
The technology at the core of the Lilium Jet is ducted electric vectored thrust, refined through five generations of aircraft demonstrations, with electric jet engines integrated into the wing flaps.
Vertical Aerospace, a global aerospace and technology company based in Bristol, England, is building a partnership with South Korea. Vertical has announced that South Korean mobility technology company Kakao Mobility has pre-ordered up to 50 of Vertical’s VX4 aircraft.
With more than 30 million registered users, Kakao Mobility, the mobility subsidiary of internet giant Kakao Corporation is the largest Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform in South Korea. It runs the country’s most popular taxi-hailing app, Kakao T.
Vertical and Kakao Mobility will establish a joint working group to drive the commercialization of advanced air mobility services in South Korea, with network and fleet planning, infrastructure, regulatory development, and consumer awareness of eVTOL mobility.
In late October, Boeing subsidiary Wisk Aero completed the world’s first public demonstration flight of a fully autonomous eVTOL, fixed-wing air taxi. The plane is self-flying “with human oversight,” the company explained.
Seating four, the pilotless vertical takeoff plane has a fixed wingspan of 50 feet (15.2 meters) and cruises up to 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) above ground at speeds up to 135 mph (217 k/hr).
Wisk has just announced a partnership with Japan Airlines to provide its autonomous flying taxis across the Asian island nation.
Early last year, Boeing invested US$450 million in Wisk and has now acquired the young company.
“We’re proud to demonstrate the autonomous technology behind our self-flying first approach,” said Brian Yutko, CEO of Wisk. “We’re proving that autonomy is possible and it’s happening today. We look forward to launching the first passenger service on an all-electric, autonomous air taxi within this decade.”
CES 2024 Opens the New Year With eVTOLs
Supernal, a Washington, DC startup, will unveil its new flying taxi at the upcoming CES 2024 in Las Vegas. On opening day, the company will display the life-size flying taxi at the annual show, which happens from January 9 to 12.
Supernal was launched as the Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group at CES 2020, where it introduced a concept vehicle. The company plans to begin certification with the FAA in 2024. Supernal’s first eVTOL will be electric, autonomous-capable and seat four passengers.
Supernal is collaborating with more than 50 affiliate companies and external partners to develop its eVTOL for commercial use starting in 2028. One collaborator is Honeywell, a multinational conglomerate headquartered in North Carolina that wants to co-create an AAM ground control station with Supernal.
David Shilliday, vice president and general manager, AAM, Honeywell Aerospace, said, “This integrated solution ensures seamless and reliable command and control over remote vehicles, further solidifying Honeywell’s role as a leader in Advanced Air Mobility solutions.”
And then there’s Samson Sky’s Switchblade, a three-wheel, hybrid-electric flying car that transforms into a road-legal vehicle in under three minutes. Based in Redmond, Oregon, the Switchblade took its successful maiden flight in nearby Washington State on November 9, 2023.
The Switchblade is designed to be stored in a garage and driven to a nearby airport. The wings swing out and the tail extends in under three minutes. The pilot flies the eVTOL to the destination at up to 200 mph, 13,000 feet above the Earth’s surface.
To date, Switchblade has gathered some 2,300 reservations from 57 countries. although Switchblade is classified as an Experimental Category aircraft, and owners are required to build 51 percent of the vehicle themselves.
Across the USA eVTOLs Are Flying High
This quick survey of the eVTOL state of play as 2023 becomes 2024 shows the excitement and creativity of an emerging transportation sector. The U.S. government is assisting, rather than blocking, this development.
The U.S. Congress has taken a more active role in this field lately. In October 2022 Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed the “Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act,” which requires the Department of Transportation to form an interagency working group and develop a national Advanced Air Mobility strategy by 2024.
“AMERICAN AVIATION IS ENTERING A NEW ERA OF INNOVTION AND GROWTH, AND INDUSTRY LEADERS SHOULD HAVE A SEAT AT THE TABLE AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CREATEST PROGRAMS TO ADVANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS TECHNOLOGY AND SETS SAFETY AND OPERATION STANDARDS.” – Jerry Moran, U.S. Senator, Kansas Republican
The U.S. Air Force is also getting involved. Its Agility Prime program, run through the service’s innovation arm AFWERX, has been cultivating eVTOLs to serve America’s defense needs. Agility Prime partners with the eVTOL commercial industry to drive this new revolution in aerospace, providing access to zero emission aircraft for training, operations, cargo transport, and emergency response.
For instance, in late October, BETA Technologies, a Vermont-based electric aircraft startup, deployed its ALIA aircraft to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The ALIA has flown 336 nautical miles on a single charge, has a carrying capacity of 1,250 pounds, and a cruising speed of 100 knots, a company spokesperson explained. Seatiing six, the ALIA serves as either an eVTOL or conventional aircraft depending on its configuration.
From Fort Worth, Texas, AIR, creator of eVTOLs for the consumer market, is participating in AFWERX Agility Prime. The partnership will drive AIR’s development and certification efforts.
“It’s thrilling AFWERX understands the unique promise of AIR ONE, which is capable of ranges and speeds that far exceed … requirements,” said Rani Plaut, CEO and co-founder of AIR. “We’re looking forward to demonstrating that AAM is truly a team sport, as we assemble alongside other industry leaders working with the U.S. Air Force to accelerate eVTOL takeoff and market delivery worldwide.”
U.S. Air Force Major Riley Livermore who commands the Agility Prime test program, said, “The goal of this Air Force and civilian partnership is to leverage the industry’s commercial investment and innovation to effectively satisfy military use cases. By helping these companies reach their commercial goals, we can learn from this technology and transition it for possible military use.”
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