SkyDrive eVTOL gains an extra passenger seat and 50% range bump
By Paul Ridden
June 20, 2023
Last year, Tokyo-based SkyDrive announced plans to launch an eVTOL taxi service at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Now the company is at the Paris Air Show to reveal design and specs changes and a production deal.
Originally, the company's SD-05 air taxi would only be able to accommodate one passenger and a pilot, but now the newly named SkyDrive eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) has grown to 13 x 13 x 3 m (43 x 43 x 10 ft) dimensions and added another passenger seat to "enable a more profitable operation and a more convenient and enjoyable experience."
The battery electric flyer is now expected to have a maximum takeoff weight of around 1,400 kg (3,100 lb) and will still operate using 12 motor/prop units. The top air speed remains unchanged at 100 km/h (62 mph), but the per-charge range has increased to 15 km (9.3 miles) for point-to-point inner city hops or short sightseeing tours.
The revised SkyDrive eVTOL is expected to have a per-charge flight range of 15 km
One of the eVTOL world's oddest ducks has announced a milestone of sorts. Alef's Model A is a US$300,000 electric car that's ... kinda street legal, but also capable of a very unique form of flight. The company has announced limited FAA certification.
We took our first look at this bonkers idea back in October last year, but effectively, what you're looking at is a very unique take on the old flying car concept.
In road mode, there's no way this thing would pass automotive-grade crash tests and the like – nor does Alef want to go through that process. So they've designed it to meet US "low speed vehicle" regulations, which will allow it to potter about on certain streets at speeds up to about 25 mph (40 km/h). Effectively, it'll fall into the same category as a golf cart.
The first production prototype has rolled off Joby Aviation's production line in Marina, California, and the FAA has cleared it to begin flight tests with a special airworthiness certificate. It's likely to be the first eVTOL delivered to a customer.
With upwards of US$2 billion in funding, more than a decade's worth of development and an impressive number of high-speed, long-distance, full-transition test flights behind it, Joby remains the leader in the race to commercial electric air taxi services.
Its S4 aircraft is a five-seat beauty that can take off and land vertically using six large propellers distributed along its wings and V-tail. It then transitions to efficient cruise flight by tilting all its props forward, and can fly more than 150 miles (240 km) at speeds over 200 mph (322 km/h).
Vastly quieter than helicopters, eVTOLs are also projected to be much cheaper as well as having zero emissions. It's hoped that once they're in full commercial service, they'll democratize vertical commuting, being produced in large numbers and offering a fast, cheap way to get across town and between towns over the top of traffic.
The Federal Aviation Administration has certified for testing a vehicle that a California startup describes as a flying car — the first fully electric vehicle that can both fly and travel on roads to receive US government approval.
Alef Automotive said that its vehicle/aircraft, dubbed the “Model A,” is the first flying vehicle that is drivable on public roads and able to park like a normal car. It also has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It apparently will be able to carry one or two occupants and will have a road-range of 200 miles and a flying range of 110 miles.
The company expects to sell the vehicle for $300,000 each with the first delivery by projected for the end of 2025.
The FAA confirmed that it has issued the company a special airworthiness certificate, allowing for limited purposes that include exhibition, research and development.
When most folk think about flying cars, we think of machines that seamlessly convert from street to air mode, that can take off and land vertically, and that can cruise in the air and on the highway. The US$789,000 Aska A5 promises to do it all.
The ambition wrapped up in this project is breathtaking. It's not an easily-registered three-wheeler, it's a four-seat car the size of an SUV, capable of traveling at highway speeds. It'll look completely ridiculous doing so, but it's capable.
Not only does it convert to an eVTOL aircraft automagically, at the touch of a button, it's a transitioning eVTOL aircraft with tilt-capable propellers and wide wings for cruising, offering a crazy 250-mile (400-km) flight range at speeds up to 150 mph (240 km/h), thanks to a range-extended hybrid powertrain. Oh, and it glides so well as a winged aircraft that you can take off and land on a runway – even a short runway – if you've got one handy.
ANAN, Tokushima -- The prototype of a 'flying car' intended to allow for a seamless transition from ground to air travel successfully levitated on its first manned test run on Aug. 9 in this west Japan city.
Assistant professor Kenji Yamanaka of Tokushima University, who is working on the development of the flying car, rode and controlled the test vehicle, lifting it 30 centimeters off the ground. It remained in the air for six seconds.
"We were able to demonstrate that it lifts off the ground with a person onboard. That's a major step forward," Yamanaka enthu
Got a pilot's license? That and a cool ten mil will let you take off vertically then soar horizontally through the sky with Lilium's sleek electric-powered craft, which is now on sale in the US market. It represents the first time eVTOLs have been offered commercially.
Electric take off and landing vehicles (eVTOL), which are kind of like passenger drones, are coming on strong in the commercial sector. In 2021, UK-based Halo ordered 200 of the machines made by Eve, a spin-off from Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer. As of 2023, there were 2,770 backorders for Eve vehicles, bearing a total value of US $8.3 billion, according to Valor International.
Earlier this year, Tokyo-based SkyDrive announced a production deal with Suzuki to begin manufacturing its two-passenger eVTOL in early 2024. And just days ago, the Joby S4, equipped with 16 propellers, received clearance to begin work as a commercial air taxi in China.
eVTOL Company Tests Ballistic Multi-Parachute Safety Mechanism
The parachutes appear to have prevented a nasty crash landing from just 50 meters.
By Adrianna Nine October 30, 2023 https://www.extremetech.com/aerospace/e ... -mechanism
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles may be gaining momentum, but they can only succeed long-term as a transportation option if passengers feel safe enough to ride them. To that end, some eVTOL companies are researching ways to implement last-ditch safety mechanisms. The Guangdong-based AeroHT shared Tuesday that its experimental ballistic multi-parachute system had successfully softened an eVTOL’s fall from just 50 meters.
The altitudes at which eVTOLs fly make it tricky to implement parachute-based safety measures. While SAE International sets the maximum commercial eVTOL flight altitude at 500 feet, the aircraft’s purpose—to offer zero-emissions, zero-traffic transportation across relatively short distances—requires that it often buzzes around at even lower altitudes. The lower an aircraft is, the less time it has to deploy emergency systems and “catch” the resistance required for a parachute to be effective. As a result, many are skeptical of eVTOL manufacturers’ claims that parachutes will improve passenger safety.
Lyte Aviation's 44-seat SkyBus: VTOLs as public transport
By Loz Blain
November 08, 2023
London startup Lyte Aviation is thinking big when it comes to VTOL aircraft. Forget your piddly five-seaters, Lyte says its first aircraft will be a 44-seat monster with a 300-km/h (186-mph) top speed and a range over 1,000 km (620 miles).
The company's rendered SkyBus airframes look like stretched, chromed-out business jets, or even small airliners – but with tandem wings at the front and rear of the fuselage. These short wings each sport a medium-sized inner propeller and a smaller outer one, for a total of eight six-bladed props. The props look curiously small, considering the size of the thing.
For vertical takeoff and landing, the wings rotate to point the props upward, and once it's aloft, the SkyBus will begin tilting its wings forward until it reaches an efficient wing-supported cruise speed. The tilt-wing concept has certainly been floated before – albeit not at this kind of scale. We wonder how well it'll handle wind gusts in a hover with those wings sitting vertically.
Samson Switchblade: First flight for fold-out flying car
By Loz Blain
November 09, 2023
A year after it was pronounced airworthy by the FAA, and 14 years after it was first announced, the Samson Sky Switchblade is officially off the ground. This street-legal three-wheeler converts to a 200-mph (320-km/h) airplane at the touch of a button.
At the Grant Country International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, the Switchblade lifted off for an exhilarating first flight, reaching an altitude of 500 ft (150 m) and circling around to touch down some six minutes later.
"After 14 years of design and rigorous testing, our first flight is a huge milestone,” stated Sam Bousfield, Samson Sky CEO and designer of the Switchblade. “This puts us on the path towards producing thousands of Switchblades to meet the large and enthusiastic demand we’re receiving."
Just weeks after its first manned flight in the California desert, Joby Aviation has taken its S4 eVTOL air taxi out for a piloted demo flight in the Big Apple, demonstrating just how much quieter and less disruptive it'll be than a helicopter.
On Sunday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams put on a press conference at the Downtown Heliport, which pokes out into the East River just a couple of blocks from Wall Street. The occasion, Adams announced, was that the city was planning to electrify the heliport in support of the coming wave of electric air taxis, as well as to enable the charging of ebikes for last-mile deliveries.
eVTOL aircraft promise to start a sustainable, traffic-busting clean urban transport revolution, offering quick and convenient flights over congested areas at a fraction of the cost– and the noise pollution – of a helicopter.
To hammer home the point, Joby had its S4 take off and fly a few fairly tight circles – as NASA confirmed in 2022, an S4 cruising at an altitude of 500 m (1,640 ft) creates a noise level on the ground somewhere between "refrigerator" and "moderate rainfall" at 45.2 dBA – as compared to the mean street noise level in NYC, which was measured at 73.4 dBA across 99 sites in this 2015 study.
The Sirius Jet will fly up to 1,150 miles (1,851 km) at speeds up to 323 mph (520 km/h) on a clean liquid-hydrogen powertrain. It'll rise vertically off a pad thanks to a deflected vectored thrust system using 20 smallish electric ducted fans.
It's the work of Swiss startup Sirius Aviation AG, which has apparently had a "team of 100+ engineers" beavering away at "intense R&D" on this project in the insanely picturesque lakeside town of Baar since 2021. Sirius says it's already started the certification process with the FAA, with a demonstration plane scheduled for first flights in 2025. Full certification, commercial deliveries and shuttle flights are planned for 2028.
So what have we got here? Effectively, something like a smaller version of Germany's Lilium Jet, but running on hydrogen for higher-density energy storage and much longer range, and using deflected thrust from its banks of fans instead of just tilting the propulsion units the way Lilium does.
Archer's futuristic Midnight air taxi completes phase 1 flight tests
By Loz Blain
January 31, 2024
Three months after its first takeoff, the production-spec Midnight air taxi has finished the first phase of flight testing. With the release of a new video, Archer says it expects to fly this next-gen machine with human pilots on board this year.
Currently sitting in fifth place on the AAM Reality Index – and with a bullet – Archer is making steady progress in its mission to get fully certified electric air taxis into commercial service by 2025. It's signed a couple of notable deals this month – one with Atlantic Aviation, around development of ground-based infrastructure in California, Florida and New York City, and another with NASA to study and validate the safety of high-performance battery systems.
So the pace in the boardroom appears healthy, and things are moving along in the hangar as well. The Midnight prototypes have been flying since late October, albeit only in standard multirotor mode. But the team has now validated the airframe's ability to take off, hover, turn, and maneuver like a multirotor drone, tilting to accelerate. The prototype is running and validating some of Archer's first high-voltage battery packs, which it's manufacturing in San Jose. So far, so good.
eHang's eVTOL air taxi will cost buyers less than $350,000 (in China)
By Ben Coxworth
February 02, 2024
While some other urban air mobility startups are still just producing renderings, eHang's EH 216 eVTOL has already been tested and cleared for commercial air taxi work in its home country of China. The company has now gone a step further, by announcing the retail price.
So first of all, we won't keep you in suspense any longer.
If you'd like an EH 216-S (as it's now known) of your own, be prepared to shell out 2.39 million RMB. That's about 332,304 US dollars, and it will take effect as of April 1st … no joking. It should be noted that the figure is the official suggested retail price, in China.
For readers who aren't familiar with the EH 216-S, it's an unpiloted eVTOL aircraft which flies on eight coaxially mounted pairs of propellers – for 16 props in total – and autonomously ferries two passengers up to 30 km (18.6 miles) between charges at a top speed around 130 km/h (81 mph).
LuftCar signs deal to develop detachable flying vans in the Philippines
By Loz Blain
February 09, 2024
Florida's LuftCar has designed a real burger with the lot: a hydrogen-powered jeepney van that backs into a special detachable airframe to turn into a high-speed, long-range, cruise-capable vectored-thrust eVTOL, perfect for island hopping.
The company has just announced it's signed a MoU with eFrancisco Motor Corporation in the Philippines, under which the two pledge to develop, integrate, deploy, brand and market a series of collaboratively designed Pinoy hydrogen eVTOLs built around eFrancisco's vehicle chassis.
eFrancisco, you see, is adapting the traditional Filipino jeepney into something a lot more like a van, and planning to run it on hydrogen fuel cells. Not just any van, either. Oh no, this one's gonna have a flip-up front for getting in and out.
There are now a number of companies working on eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) "air taxis," most of which look a bit like larger versions of consumer quadcopter drones. The eCopter is different, however, in a way that could make it more likely to see real-world use.
Currently being developed by Austrian startup FlyNow Aviation, the auto-piloted eCopter features a coaxial electric drivetrain which incorporates two counter-rotating rotor propellers (one above the other).
This setup allows it to be classified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency as an electric helicopter. According to FlyNow, because the eCopter can be nicely slotted into this existing classification, certification should be much quicker and simpler than would be the case for more drone-like multi-rotor air taxis.
