VTOL On Demand Mobility

Aerial e-mobility perspective: Anticipated designs and operational capabilities of eVTOL urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft
A paper by Osama A. Marzouk, College of Engineering, University of Buraimi, Al Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract: We collected data about 13 urban air mobility (UAM) electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from 12 UAM companies in the world. While none of these models has yet reached a large-scale commercial operation (particularly as air taxis), some of them progressed well in the certification process and may have their UAM models widely operated within a few years. This article focuses on the variability in the configurations of these UAM eVTOL aircraft for aerial e-mobility; such as single-fixed-wing, tandem-tilt-wing, canard wing, fixed-rotor fixed-wing, full tilt-rotor, partial tilt-rotor, V-shaped tail, tailless, twin tail, conventional tail assembly, distributed propulsion, multicopter, rear forward thrust propeller, ducted fans, and a hybrid airplane-helicopter design. The 13 UAM eVTOL aircraft covered here are: (1) EH216-S (by EHang), (2) VoloCity (by Volocopter), (3) Lilium Jet (by Lilium), (4) VoloRegion (by Volocopter), (5) CityAirbus NextGen (by Airbus), (6) Passenger Air Vehicle - PAV (by Boeing), (7) S-A2 (by Hyundai), (8) Joby (by Joby Aviation), (9) VX4 (by Vertical Aerospace Group), (10) Midnight (by Archer Aviation), (11) Eve (by Eve Air Mobility), (12) Jaunt (by Jaunt Air Mobility), and (13) Generation 6 (by Wisk Aero). Out of these 13 UAM eVTOL aircraft models for aerial e-mobility and/or air taxis, we found that 11 models utilize a wing configuration, while only two use a wingless multirotor concept (as in hobbyist drones). A fixed-wing design is associated with a faster travel speed, at the expense of added restrictions on maneuvering and low-speed travel (or hovering). Six models are intended to have an onboard human pilot, while the remaining seven models are designed to be pilotless. One model demonstrated the ability to use hydrogen as a clean source of energy through a fuel cell system.
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Source: https://hal.science/hal-04882009/document

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So, after eight weeks, the money still hasn’t arrived, because money transfer was difficult. I imagine a heavily loaded Spanish treasure Galleon fighting in storms on the way to the German coast, followed by a trek of horse drawn carriages with fanfare blowing riders in the front, fighting against all odds on their way to Oberpfaffenhofen. I thought they would arrive in the very last second, as in Hollywood movies, but they didn’t make it…

They should have used the Swift system....
 
Nicknick said:
So, after eight weeks, the money still hasn’t arrived, because money transfer was difficult. I imagine a heavily loaded Spanish treasure Galleon fighting in storms on the way to the German coast, followed by a trek of horse drawn carriages with fanfare blowing riders in the front, fighting against all odds on their way to Oberpfaffenhofen. I thought they would arrive in the very last second, as in Hollywood movies, but they didn’t make it…

They should have used the Swift system....
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Perhaps they were bringing in gold bullion by EVTOL.
 
Nicknick said:
So, after eight weeks, the money still hasn’t arrived, because money transfer was difficult. I imagine a heavily loaded Spanish treasure Galleon fighting in storms on the way to the German coast, followed by a trek of horse drawn carriages with fanfare blowing riders in the front, fighting against all odds on their way to Oberpfaffenhofen. I thought they would arrive in the very last second, as in Hollywood movies, but they didn’t make it…

They should have used the Swift system....
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Been there, done that.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwgoybJNTXQ
 
Thelen admitted the company was burning through €10 million per month just to cover its operating expenses.
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How are they burning 10 mil a month, that is insane for a company that has only produced a few airframes.

Having 8~950 staff does not make sense either.

I think there has been zero oversight for the company for years and hiring everyone and anyone nonstop.

Regards,
 
I wrote about that aspect many years ago. Some Startup will prefer increasing their staff number for :
- service to investors (dumb kids, managerial position as a parachute for loyal service...)
- gain some momentum on local regulators
- easily increase their public Capital (employees doesn't need any advance payments as a large Capital expenditure but modest monthly payments that can be scaled back swiftly)
- Increase for cheap their social-media reach

Then there is the competition b/w internal managers that want to gain momentum against other services. Increase the staff numbers and your department will look like a bizzy hive with people looking for something to do (it's the Soviet system dully applied to the quarter-horse of capitalism) and gain traction during review.

Also, the inherent cognitive/experience level deficit resulting from early inputs of fresh industry entrants that joined early when the startup was created. Startups usually are less prone to swap their early managers with senior staffs when they they confront industrial level. Hence disorganized and disoriented decision takers tend to increase the required level of staff to achieve parity.

Last but not least, there is the corruption aspect: many staff are added for reward and fees from the service industry, when not worst.


Notice that a lot of those practices are directly inherited from the Software-Tech industry.
 
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Halcyon66 said:
How are they burning 10 mil a month, that is insane for a company that has only produced a few airframes.

Having 8~950 staff does not make sense either.
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Call it 900 staff, assume an average per worker cost of 65k/year* to cover wages, pensions, taxes, etc: annual personnel costs of 58.5 million, monthly cost just shy of 5 million.

People cost money. And that's before you give them the buildings, tools and material to do stuff.

* The average German salary was 52k Euros in 2023, I'm guessing it's pushing 55k now, and engineering companies probably run higher. Then I assumed 25% overheads, which may well be low.
 
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Yes, I know how it happens yet always find it intriguing how they manage to scale up costs so quickly and not have anything to show for the expenditure.

They were bringing on Ex Airline guys on every week, other big names from all over the place and making deals for hubs all over the globe.

Pity really as it was certainly a good-looking airframe, that definitely showed promise.

I am sure there is someone waiting in the wings to grab all the good stuff and leave the rest.

I don't think the story is over..........................

Regards,
 
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