We finally heard about Kitty Hawk’s “secret project,” which sports the strange name of Heaviside. It introduces the notion of range for an electric vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The demonstration of the aircraft flying is fantastic but I wonder if we’re about to witness another “range anxiety” war between eVTOL manufacturers? Let’s hope not.
In the short space of 3 years we’ve seen urban air mobility (UAM) develop from a concept to eHang promising the first electric vertical takeoff & landing (eVTOL) air taxi service at the end of 2019. The Vertical Flight Society, which I’m privileged to also write for, just reported that it now has 200 eVTOL aircraft in its database.
You know a new industry is born when investments pour in and results encourage more spending. Now, a new lab, the Collins Electric Aircraft Lab, wants to offer urban air mobility (UAM) and the general electric aviation world a 1MW electric airplane motor.
While the electric aviation industry is working on futuristic-looking electric vertical takeoff & landing (eVTOL) aircraft, more conventional electric airplanes (eCTOL) are filling different niches and needs. So, what does Faradair Aerospace have to offer with its Bio-Electric Hybrid Aircraft (BEHA) M1H?
I recently caught up with Eric Bartsch from VerdeGo Aero to talk about the differences between electric vertical takeoff & landing (eVTOL) aircraft and electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aircraft. If you recall, we previously announced that VerdeGo stopped the development of its eVTOL aircraft to focus instead on designing powertrains for other eVTOL and eCTOL aircraft makers, a valuable way to enable more urban air mobility (UAM).
Bye Aerospace is an extremely busy electric aviation company developing the future of our urban air mobility (UAM) world. It has two electric airplanes (eCTOL) and is working on an electric vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) project with Uber Elevate. But that’s not all. It is also partnering with another two companies focusing on pre‐crash sensing technologies, parachute ballistic recovery systems, landing gear‐airframe crashworthy structural concepts, high-energy absorbing seats, and advanced restraints.
South African urban air mobility (UAM) startup Pegasus Universal Aerospace, founded in 2012, has an interesting electric vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) aircraft that can also operate as an electric conventional take-off & landing (eCTOL) airplane.
A first stab at clarifying how electric and hybrid vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) and conventional electric and hybrid aircraft (eCTOL) will interact in our urban air mobility future was recently made by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). It calls the first eVTOL rule “the first building block to enable the safe operation of hybrid and electrical VTOL aircraft.”
Forgive the last few weeks of relative silence as we gather a storm of news and press releases regarding the world of electric aviation. One of the big biggest air shows in the world, AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, just wrapped up. As with any major air shows, companies use that time to reveal plans and purchases.
Airbus is letting no time go by (while Boeing deals with self-inflicted problems) by announcing more electric air mobility news, that of a hybrid aircraft with the French turbine company Safran and airplane maker Daher. And to prove the point that urban air mobility (UAM) is doing very well, Airbus aims to have the airplane ready by 2022.
