eVTOL
[1]: 1–2 Original eVTOL aircraft designs are being developed by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that include legacy manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing,[2] Embraer, Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota, as well as several start-up companies including Archer Aviation, EHang, Joby Aviation, Overair, and Volocopter.
This ecosystem of firms developing eVTOLs includes also spin-off of legacy aircraft manufacturers, such as Eve Air Mobility that emerged from the EmbraerX division of Embraer, as well as partnerships, such as Wisk Aero that was launched as a joint venture between Boeing and Larry Page's Kitty Hawk.
[10] Uber published a paper on a project called Elevate co-authored by Jeff Holden, Nikhil Goel, and Mark Moore.
[13] Upon acquisition, Joby CEO JoeBen Bivert said, "The team at Uber Elevate has not only played an important role in our industry, they have also developed a remarkable set of software tools that build on more than a decade of experience enabling on-demand mobility.
[15] In October 2020 with a $60 million investment in Joby Aviation, a business building an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft intended to provide air cab service, Delta joined the list of airlines funding EV technology startups.
[18] In November 2021, the National Academy of Sciences published a study[19] by Shashank Sripad and Venkat Viswanathan of Carnegie Mellon University that showed eVTOL aircraft could have an energy efficiency that is comparable to or higher than terrestrial electric vehicles.
On 19 April 2024, U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced plans to enter the eVTOL business in Asia by 2030, anticipating demand for fast short-distance travel that the vehicles could provide in the region's traffic-choked cities.
The company is developing electric vertical take-off and landing craft, which will incorporate autonomous technology, at subsidiary Wisk Aero.
[26] Vertical Aerospace announced pre-orders for 1,000 eVTOLs in June 2021, including from American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and aircraft lessor, Avalon Holdings.
[27] As of March 2024, Embraer had signed contracts with twenty-eight companies for 2,850 orders of eVTOLs, valued at US$8 billion from 30 customers in 13 countries.
[33] Another approach to thrust vectoring is to use flaps to divert air coming from a horizontal motor downward to create lift.
[34] Odys Aviation vectors thrust from its 16 motors by extending flaps that direct the backward-traveling air downward at take-off and landing.
[40] Hybrid designs employ some fixed and some tilting motors, as shown by Archer Maker,[41] Vertical Aerospace VA-1X,[42] and Wisk Cora.
Volocopter has also developed a cargo eVTOL aircraft, the VoloDrone, that can carry up to 200 kg with a maximum range of 40 km.
[56] In 2020, JumpAero announced it was working on a small, one-seater eVTOL aircraft to allow the rapid deployment of emergency services.
[57] In 2020, the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM) consortium studied the benefits of eVTOL for direct hospital-to-hospital transportation of patients, organs and drugs.
[58] eVTOL aircraft have been created to introduce electric flight into recreational or sporting aviation, such as racing series Airspeeder.
[60] In 2024, LuftCar signed a Memorandum of understanding with eFrancisco Motor Corporation in the Philippines, to develop, integrate, deploy, brand and market a series of Pinoy flying LuftCar super-jeepney (hydrogen Jeepney van eVTOL built around eFrancisco's vehicle chassis for island hopping).
[63][64] On August 20, 2020, United States Air Force (USAF) held a demonstration flight of an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas.
[63] On 12 December 2021, Embraer and BAE Systems announced plans to embark on a joint study to explore the development of Eve's vehicle for the defence and security market.
