ADVANCED AIR MOBLITY
Twenty years ago, the idea of scaling up stable, easy-to-fly multicopter drone technology to enable passenger-carrying air taxis seemed to make sense. Two decades later, technology has moved on.
Most developers of electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft are pursuing designs that transition to more efficient wingborne cruise to fly farther and faster on available battery technology.
Volocopter and Skydrive look to larger vehicles
AutoFlight debuts Prosperity 1 eVTOL
Volocopter plans to certify its VoloCity air taxi in 2024 and transport people in it during the Olympics next year in Paris. Credit: Mark Wagner/Aviation Week
German startup Volocopter pioneered the human-carrying multicopter in 2011 and is preparing to put its VoloCity eVTOL into commercial service at the Paris Olympics in July 2024. But the 18-rotor aircraft only carries a pilot and one passenger on short urban flights.
With winged eVTOLs in development that will carry four or five passengers over longer ranges, that business model no longer makes sense, even Volocopter admits.
So the company is developing a larger, next-generation version of the VoloCity, CEO Dirk Hoke revealed at the Paris Air Show. The vehicle is distinct from the winged four-passenger VoloRegion regional air mobility vehicle already in development.
Hoke says Volocopter can likely achieve a battery energy density of around 400 Wh/kg by 2025—compared to 250-300 Wh/kg currently—enabling type certification of the new vehicle by late 2026. “Advances in batteries will enable a larger vehicle with higher payload and longer distances,” he said. “We will not reveal all details yet, but we believe it will at least be a four-seater, and it will be available by the last quarter of 2026.”
Japanese eVTOL startup SkyDrive is also moving up in size. The Tokyo-based company unveiled its piloted two-seat SD-05 in September 2022 but at Paris announced that the renamed SkyDrive eVTOL will accommodate a pilot and two passengers. The vehicle’s maximum takeoff weight thus will rise to 1,400 kg (3,100 lb.) from 1,100 kg and operating range will increase to 15 km (9 mi.) from 5-10 km.
SkyDrive also announced a manufacturing partnership with Suzuki, with plans to build its air taxis at a production facility owned by Suzuki in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, beginning in the spring of 2024.
The market shifts come as the industry faces a pivotal 2024. Volocopter is still planning to certify the VoloCity by mid-2024 so it can launch the first commercial services at the Summer Olympics. “Paris is not guaranteed, but it is still feasible,” Hoke said.
Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation are both aiming for FAA certification of their eVTOL air taxis by the end of 2024. Joby CEO JoeBen Bevert said the FAA’s release in early June of the proposed Special Federal Aviation Regulation for pilot training and operations of powered-lift eVTOLs keeps the industry on track to launch commercial services in the U.S. in 2025.
There was a large eVTOL presence at Le Bourget, with a dedicated Paris Air Mobility showcase, Volocopter’s 2X prototype flying daily in the display and Chinese startup AutoFlight debuting its lift-plus-cruise vehicle in the static park. The aircraft at the show was AutoFlight’s fourth full-scale proof-of-concept eVTOL, the last before it builds conforming prototypes for certification of its aircraft with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
AutoFlight’s vehicle on display had 10 lift rotors on wing booms for vertical flight and three pusher propellers for cruise flight. The aircraft is fitted with an interior for a pilot and four passengers. AutoFlight has signed a memorandum of understanding with French airport operator Groupe ADP to operate piloted experimental flights with its proof-of-concept eVTOL from Pontoise Vertiport just outside Paris during the Olympics.
The next step is type certification of the uncrewed cargo version of the 2,000-kg-gross-weight (4,400-lb.) aircraft, the Carryall, with the CAAC, expected in 2024, says Mark Henning, AutoFlight Europe managing director.
Certification will allow AutoFlight to begin delivering aircraft to customers in China and elsewhere in Asia and start gathering operational data for certification of the passenger-carrying Prosperity 1 version with the CAAC, Henning says. The aircraft are essentially identical, and Chinese certification of the Prosperity 1 is expected 2.5-3 years after that of the Carryall, AutoFlight CEO Tian Yu says.
The Carryall is to be certified to a safety level of 10-5, while the passenger-carrying Prosperity 1 is planned to be certified initially by the CAAC at 10-7, the same safety level as current commercial helicopters, Henning says.
After gaining operational experience in Asia with the Prosperity 1, AutoFlight plans to certify the aircraft with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. This will require a safety level of 10-9 under the agency’s Special Condition for VTOL and is expected to take another 1-2 years, he says. FAA certification would follow.
—Graham leads Aviation Week's coverage of technology, focusing on engineering and technology across the aerospace industry, with a special focus on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense.
—Based in Washington, Ben covers Congress, regulatory agencies, the Departments of Justice and Transportation and lobby groups.
