Over the past few years tens of billions of dollars, enormous numbers of hours of aerospace engineers’ precious time, and countless articles have been wasted on the Jetsons fantasy of quiet, electric, folding aircraft taking off and descending vertically amidst the towers and homes of our cities. Now the US … [continued]
Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft continue to coast forward, and one of the latest landmark achievements from the industry is the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flight in Florida. It’s also the first time that an eVTOL aircraft has taken flight at a major international airport in … [continued]
German eVTOL startup Volocopter has unveiled a new aircraft, the VoloConnect. This new aircraft differs from its existing offerings in that it is aimed at connecting suburbs to cities, rather than providing transport within a city. Volocopter is one of the more well-known eVTOL companies and is also at an … [continued]
Volocopter has opened up reservations for the first commercial electric air taxi rides in an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. A what? If you haven’t been following along as this industry has been heating up, an eVTOL aircraft is sort of a new-age helicopter.
Last week when we attended the Amsterdam drone week, we ran into the CTO of Volocopter, Jan Hendrik Boelens, who was there to talk about mobility as a service. We made sure to catch up with him, talk about the latest company news, and clarify some of the questions about the Volocopter as well as its port and hub infrastructure. For those already familiar with Volocopter, I suggest you dive straight into our interview video.
There is just not enough time to keep up with urban air mobility (UAM) news these days. Keeping up with the stories is almost impossible. So, here is a roundup of exciting electric UAM news.
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.
It’s time for another CleanTechnica news roundup of electric air mobility news — news about electric vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) aircraft and electric airplanes.
Volocopter is testing its autonomous air taxi later this year, the ASX MOBi-One aircraft plans to use VerdeGo Aero’s IDEP systems, Eviation will use Siemens electric motors for the Alice 9-seat electric plane, Honeywell is developing flight-control & detect-and-avoid systems for urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, Lilium says it will launch “much sooner” than 2025, and In-Flight Data snatches 3 Guinness World Records for BVLOS UAS flights.
I’m always surprised talking about electric vertical take-off & landing (eVTOL) aircraft technology at a party. Most people think electric urban air mobility (eUAM) won’t happen for a decade. Apart from the sad fact I talk about such things at parties, their reaction is puzzling. While most people think eVTOL aircraft won’t happen for a long time, that is a serious underestimation. Many aviation heavy-hitters and startups are already testing them. Heck, you can even buy one now.
