It is late afternoon in Manhattan and you have a flight to catch
at Kennedy International Airport. Instead of sitting in rush-hour traffic for
two hours, you take a short ride to a nearby parking garage where you board an
electric aircraft that takes off vertically from the roof and deposits you at
Kennedy 20 minutes later for roughly the same cost as a fancy ride-share. You
make your flight in time.
اضافة اعلان
While this scenario might sound far-fetched, several companies
say they are on the verge of being able to offer safe, cheap, clean electric
aircraft that can help passengers travel distances between two and 150 miles
without the need for a conventional runway. Public and private experts believe
the technology could grow into a massive market that helps ease congestion and
changes the way people travel in major metropolitan areas.
While urban air travel is currently out of reach for most
customers (think: Uber Copter), improvements in battery technology have driven
down the cost of developing electric-powered aircraft that are viable as urban
passenger transportation. These companies are betting they can bring electric
urban and regional air travel to the masses, and have developed new aircraft to
compete for a slice of this nascent market within the next few years.
“We want to create something that is available to a lot of
people, that can do the job of a high-speed train without requiring the
infrastructure,” said Daniel Wiegand, chief executive and founder of Lilium,
based in Germany. “We won’t be at the ticket price of a high-speed train in
Germany on our first day, but if we don’t get there within 15 years I would
consider our mission failed.”
Manufacturers say these electric aircraft have numerous
advantages over conventional aircraft and especially helicopters, which are
expensive to maintain and fly, noisy, and come with safety risks, as seen in
the crash that killed
Kobe Bryant and eight other passengers.
The new electric aircraft use one-fifth the energy of
conventional helicopters. Unlike traditional fixed-wing aircraft, they won’t
require runways to take off and land. Unlike helicopters, they will be largely
inaudible from the ground and have multiple rotors and backup systems, making
them much safer.
Adam Goldstein, the co-chief executive of Archer Aviation, said
his company hopes to offer fares in the range of $3 to $4 per mile traveled.
That would make the trip from Manhattan to Kennedy, typically 17 miles, between
$50 and $80. Several experts predicted the price of regional flights would be
around the same cost as the luxury car service Uber Black.
“The biggest cost is the batteries,” said Goldstein, which are
“expensive, but get cheaper every day.” (He declined to be more specific about
battery sourcing and cost.)
The more established players in this space, like Joby Aviation
and Volocopter, are promising to have aircraft in service by 2024, an ambitious
goal that will depend largely on gaining regulatory approval.
The largest area of investment is into electric vehicles that
takeoff and land vertically, like helicopters or Harrier jets. Known as
electric vertical takeoff and landing or eVTOLs, these aircraft can usually
seat between two and 10 passengers and can travel up to 200 miles, making them
ideally suited for traversing a metropolitan area or connecting two cities.
Wiegand of Lilium had a light-bulb moment in 2014 when he
watched a video of a military aircraft that took off vertically and realized
that an electric version could solve all the traditional problems with using
aircraft in dense urban areas: eliminating noise and air pollution, as well as
the need for runways. Still a student at Technical University of Munich at the
time, Wiegand put together a team and began developing the engine that today
powers his company’s seven-seat electric jet.
He believes his company’s jet technology scales better than
designs based on propellers, and argued that the additional capacity would
helped reduce costs to a level affordable by middle-class consumers.
Taking a different approach is Volocopter, founded in 2011 and
based in Munich; it currently has two vehicles in advanced development
including a “multicopter,” a copter with 18 rotor blades, called the VoloCity.
The two-seat aircraft has a 22-mile range, which Florian Reuter, the chief
executive, said makes it easier to certify than some longer-range electric
aircraft, and ideally suited for urban travel, where the vast majority of trips
are 10 to 20 miles. Volocopter is also developing a four-seat aircraft with a
100-mile range aimed more at regional travel.
“We are one of the few companies acknowledging there are
different missions and different vehicle types for different missions,” Reuter
said.
Volocopter is pursuing regulatory approval with the European
Union Aviation Safety Agency and hopes to have its aircraft in operation by
2024.
Joby, based in Santa Cruz, California, is pursuing a similar goal
using yet another approach, having flown over 1,000 test flights on its fully
electric aircraft, which seats four passengers plus the pilot and has a range
of 150 miles on a single charge. The company made headlines last December when
the ride-sharing giant Uber offloaded Elevate, their urban air travel
ride-sharing product, to Joby and invested an additional $75 million into the
company, signaling that the two services would be seamlessly linked.
Cities are already preparing for the introduction of electric
aircraft to their already overburdened transportation systems. Mayor Eric
Garcetti of Los Angeles set up Urban Movement Labs in 2019; today the
organization is focused on preparing for the certification of electric aircraft
for public use by the FAA as early as 2025.
The FAA declined multiple requests for an interview, but said it
is reviewing electric aircraft on a case-by-case basis.
Sam Morrissey, the executive director of Urban Movement Labs,
said the aircraft initially will likely be confined to existing commercial
airports and flight paths until officials are able to determine how the new
locations for takeoffs and landings can be added without disrupting other modes
of transport. (Joby and Archer have both begun certification under rules for
existing fixed-wing aircraft.)
“Our challenge is if they are to arrive, can we have everything
in place so it’s not something only rich people can use,” Morrissey said.
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