A demonstration organized this weekend in New York provided an idea of what electrified flights will look like in the future. Joby Aviation and Volocopter have in fact carried out demonstration flights of their electric planes in the American city, raising a lot of hope for this emerging sector.
New York Mayor Eric Adams was present and took the opportunity to announce that he was going to electrify two of Manhattan’s three heliports, namely Downtown Manhattan Heliport and East 34th Street. New York intends to become a leader in the adoption of clean and quiet flights and intends to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to 2005. Joby Aviation welcomed this first for an electric air taxi in a press release. the city, and for the company, which was flying for the first time in an urban environment. “We plan to make quiet, emissions-free flying an affordable, everyday reality for New Yorkers, while significantly reducing the impact of helicopter noise“, the group said.
The Volocopter 2X also participated in this event, which “was a fantastic opportunity to show how electric air taxis can improve the quality of life in a city that never sleeps“, explained the director of Volocopter, convinced that this demonstration would pave the way for commercial air taxi operations in other cities in the United States.
Considerable investment needs
This is indeed a big win for developers of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, who will likely need considerable public investment to get their commercial air taxi service off the ground by mid of the decade. Joby has already announced, as part of its partnership with Delta Air Lines, that it plans to make New York one of its first launch markets after receiving certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). .
According to a recent study by research firm Deloitte, eVTOLs attracted 6 billion euros of investment globally in 2021, and 2.7 billion euros in 2022.
Joby’s plane is optimized for fast, consecutive flights, and can travel up to 100 miles on a single charge, covering 99% of all trips taken today in New York City’s five boroughs. A trip between Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) can take over an hour by car. With an electric flying taxi, it should only last about seven minutes, Joby said. And its plane can recharge in about five minutes, while passengers disembark and board, said its CEO JoeBen Bevirt, who aims to create the first commercial passenger service by 2025.
While the cost of booking such a trip has not yet been revealed, Joby Aviation has already indicated that it would likely be comparable to that of a carpool. Flying electrically allows for much lower maintenance costs than with helicopters. A criticism often leveled at these new generation aircraft is that it will be a means of transport reserved for the richest.
Volocopter is already preparing for the Paris Olympic Games, and has been testing its machines in the Paris region for more than a year and a half with the airport manager Groupe Aéroports de Paris (ADP), the Autonomous Authority. of Parisian transport (RATP) and the Île-de-France region.
Sources: Tech Crunch, Joby Aviation, Volocopter, Reuters