Following the Sky Taxi Money: eVTOLs

Dean Sigler Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

As though by magic, money from Wall Street, venture capitalists and other investors show a growing interest and cash flow in sky taxis.  It started on August 11 with JoeBen Bevirt of JOBY ringing the bell that starts trading on the stock market floor. As one web site points out, it’s up to the discretion of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as to who gets to ring the bell and, “Only those companies with stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the exchange can ring the bell.” We’ll look at a sampling of companies making electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles and selling in domestic and foreign markets for an overview of what’s hot.  Later, we’ll look at the inroads being made by makers of fixed-wing aerial vehicles in the nascent regional market. Archer “The closing of the business combination (with Atlas Crest Investment Corp.) generated $857.6 million of gross proceeds, which will help fund Archer’s vision …

Look!  Up in the Sky!  At Oshkosh

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two different machines, with vastly different purposes and unique looks, are flying electrically above Wittman Field for the worlds’ biggest airshow.  The Experimental Aircraft Association’s gathering, having skipped a year because of the pandemic, is back with nearly twice the number of attendees.  It’s a crowd ready to be rocked. Volocopter Helena Treeck, head of public relations for Volocopter GmbH, is on scene at AirVenture, not only promoting her company’s machines, but granting interviews and reporting herself. She shares the experience.  “The crewed Volocopter 2X took off at 2:45 PM CST for a 4-minute flight at ~164 feet and a top speed of 18 mph over Wittman Regional Airport as part of EAA’s AirVenture aviation celebration. Event attendees were able to watch the Volocopter 2X fly and take a seat in the VoloCity model at Volocopter’s booth to experience these aircraft. Nicknamed the ‘World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration,’ more than 600,000 visitors are expected to come to see pioneering designs in …

End the Year on a Volocopter Note

Dean Sigler Announcements, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Volocopter has an exciting way to end 2020, leaving the old year with a ticket for your future flight in a VoloCity VC 2-1 aircraft (the “Aircraft”).  Fine print, spelled out in the eight-page General Terms & Conditions for the Volocopter World Premiere Ticket Program, might cause the hesitant to pause. The more adventurous among us will start planning an overseas trip two or three years from now. Here’s the Deal “Berlin, 16 September 2020 — At Greentech Festival in Berlin today, Volocopter, the pioneer of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), announced that the world’s first public sale for electrical air taxi flight reservations has started. Effective immediately, Volocopter fans world-wide can reserve their tickets online and be amongst the very first to take this new form of mobility. The VoloFirst costs €300 ($351.25) and can be reserved with a 10% ($35.12) deposit.”  There are only 1000 presale reservations available for a limited time, and as of this morning, only 313 …

Volocopter’s Short Flight Over the Bay

Dean Sigler Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Volocopter air taxi flies over Singapore’s Marina Bay Volocopter flew the latest version of its two-seat sky taxi, the 2X, on a two-minute, 1.5-kilometer excursion around and over Singapore’s Marina Bay on October 22.  This short flight, surrounded by massive, futuristic skyscrapers, highlighted the controllability of the small machine and its ability to use minimal infrastructure, taking off from and landing on a simple grass plot. Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, applauded the flight’s verification of his vision.  “The flight today in Singapore was the most advanced Volocopter flight yet and the piloted flight was as stable as ever. At the same time, we are showcasing a prototype of our full-scale VoloPort Infrastructure, allowing for a realistic demonstration of air taxi boarding and maintenance services. Never before have people been this close to experiencing what Urban Air Mobility in the city of tomorrow will feel like.” Perfect for commuting on the island, Volocopters would enable transit across the 50-kilometer (31-mile) …

Volocopter Hovers Over Stuttgart

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Stuttgart sees first urban flight of Volocopter in Europe     Volocopter has demonstrated an unmanned flight over Stuttgart, Germany on September 14, part of a two-day event titled, “Vision Smart City – Experience future mobility today.”   A major promotion of Mercedes-Benz’s history, products, and plans for future mobility, Partner Volocopter highlighted the drive toward “climate neutral mobility” by the auto maker. Smart City networks will rely on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Adaptive Networks according to Ciena, a provider of networking, programming and systems for ever-increasing demands by industry and municipalities. Control of traffic that will increasingly include Urban Aerial Mobility will take intense amounts of data – up to 24 billion Internet Provider (IP) devices on earth (three for every person) and Internet of Things (IoT) gizmos  flowing up to 500 zetabytes (500 followed by 21 zeros) per year.   The Mercedes-Benz Museum featured presentations, “Of technical innovations and sustainable transport concepts for future mobility at the Mercedes-Benz Museum …

Fraport And Volocopter Implement Infrastructure

Dean Sigler Batteries, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Helena Treeck, Senior Global PR Manager at Volocopter GmbH, announced that Volocopter and Fraport AG (the managing directorate for Frankfurt Airport) are, “Developing concepts for ground infrastructure and operations required for air taxi services at airports.” A Promising Concept As most of us know from inconvenient experience, getting to and from the airport and fighting our way through the obstacles between us and our assigned seat are frustrating and at times almost demeaning.  Volocopter probably can’t take away the patdowns and the delay in security lines, but it can release us from the traffic jams on the way to and from the airport. Volocopter proposes “Volocopter Ports,” a nest of landing platforms, battery swap stations, and boarding and departure zones.  Helena reports, “Fraport and Volocopter said that they’re exploring on how to integrate air taxis into the existing airport infrastructure at Frankfurt, using what it calls Volocopter Ports, that could link up with existing transportation nodes at the airport. One …

Volocopters to Fly Doctors

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis Leave a Comment

Helena Treeck of Volocopter alerted your editor of an exciting development for the multicopter manufacturer.  ADAC Luftrettung (ADAC Air Rescue) wants to use volocopter’s capabilities to take doctors or other qualified medical personnel to points of need – and rapidly.  ADAC’s slogan, “Against time and for life,” sums their mission, and Volocopters seem apt choices to help fulfill it. Rotary-wing aircraft have a well-established reputation for rescues in treacherous locales and circumstances.  An outstanding job of flying earlier this year on Mt. Hood, Oregon highlights this. Electric vertical take off and landing craft may be even better at this than fossil-fuel powered ones.  They don’t run out of oxygen at altitude – the rescue on Mt. Hood took place near the summit at 11,000 feet, adding to the plentiful hazards. As noted in Helena’s dispatch, “ADAC Luftrettung is the first air rescue organization in the world to test the use of manned multicopters in emergency medical services – both in …

Volocopters to Hover Over Singapore

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Helena Treeck from Volocopter sent the following message this morning: “Bruchsal/Paris/Singapore, October 2018 – Volocopter, the pioneer in urban air mobility, announced today during Autonomy – the Summit of Urban Mobility in Paris, that they will perform a next set of inner urban flight tests in Singapore. The series of test that are scheduled to take place in the second half of 2019 are supported by the Ministry of Transport (MOT), Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), and Economic Development Board (EDB).” Already undergoing testing in Germany and Dubai, Volocopter’s 2X appears to be the company’s flagship for continuing development.  The following video (in French) intercuts a representative explaining the benefits of the Volocopter with images of its public flight testing in Dubai.  There are apparently less well-publicized tests in the nearby desert and ongoing development in Germany. Ms. Treeck’s press released provides more goals.  “These flight tests are designed to validate and verify the ability of Volocopter’s eVTOL vehicles …

It Flies Hands Free!  Could It Be Intel Inside?

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

e-volo’s Volocopter VC200 made its first “manned” flight on March 30, 2016, with managing director Alexander Zosel maintaining control for a few minutes, and then letting the 18-rotor vehicle find its own way.  He held both hands out the side door for several seconds to show the Volocopter was flying itself – and quite stably in hover at that.  He repeated the hands-off approach later in the flight. Zosel lightly held the single control stick in the machine, controlling vertical motion through thumb movement on the video-game-type controller, lateral motion by twisting the control stick, and banking by tilting the control stick.  It all seems intuitive and well harmonized.  The videos show the flight and its happy aftermath. Unlike conventional helicopters that require both hands and both feet on the controls, usually in subtle motions that resemble Ringo Starr or Buddy Rich at their best, the single control stick in the VC200 is, according to all concerned, pretty intuitive. How long …

Volocopter VC200 Certified in Germany

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

With China certifying its RX1E two-seat electric trainer recently, Germany beats the rest of the world to electric rotary-wing certification with its provisional certificate for the VC200 Volocopter as an ultralight aircraft – certificate number VVZ, registration D-MYVC.  This will allow the German Ultralight Flight Association (DULV) to continue testing the vehicle, a program in place since 2013.  Testing has been done on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure – a telling name for the organization since the German government feels a strong digital infrastructure is necessary to efficient operation of all transportation. Further testing will lead to certification of the VC200 as an ultralight prototype and, following successful completion of testing, to series production. Volocopter’s 18 lifting rotors, each powered by a small outrunner motor, require 45 kilowatts to hover, “depending on the air pressure / temperature,” according to e-Volo GmbH.  Multiply redundant systems ensure stability, “even if parts of the system were to fail,” …