VTOL On Demand Mobility

He would better do cover art for modern mechanics...

Reminds me somwhat to Luigi Colani, but I have to say Colani design at least looked much better...
 
Zoo Tycoon said:
Ah it’s by Oscar Vinels;- the same genus that brought us the nuclear powered flying hotel aka the Sky Whale.

Utterly clueless about practical aero design and engineering but employing a world class marketing department…
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De design brief is obviously: draw me something futuristic that will attract media attention and hopefully catch the eye of potential investors.
 
newatlas.com

Autonomous EHang eVTOL jumpstarts nascent pilotless air tourism industry

Imagine stepping aboard an empty aircraft that looks to have landed straight from the future, strapping in and sitting back while soaring through the air and taking in the scenery, all without so much as a pilot there to encroach upon the privacy of your panoramic bubble. It may sound like a…
newatlas.com newatlas.com
 
More significant IMOHO:

H2 fuel cells powered long range flight

electrek.co

Joby Aviation completes a 523-mile flight in an eVTOL powered by hydrogen-electric tech

eVTOL developer Joby Aviation has completed its latest milestone in demonstrating the plausibility of zero-emission regional air travel. By using...
electrek.co electrek.co

Also:

Discussions for Opening of Joby dedicated flight school:

If approved, Joby Aviation College would occupy 6,709 square feet of office, hangar and storage space at $5,416 per month, and another 3,840 square feet of dedicated ramp space for approximately $385, according to the City of Watsonville. The rent will adjust each year in July in accordance with the consumer price index.
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kion546.com

City of Watsonville discusses a three-year lease for Joby Aviation College

The Watsonville City Council will discuss approving a three year aeronautical commercial lease Tuesday for Joby Aviation College on 170 Aviation Way.
kion546.com kion546.com
 
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Almost 5 hours of endurance is impressive! However, I think a large fraction of cabin space is used for the hydrogen pressure vessels and associated equipment. The pod mounted under the fuselage appears to contain the fuel cell only.
 

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You are right but it doesn´t matter much as the vehicle isn´t optimized for this propulsion and the range is way beyond their targeted claim.

jJoby2406.jpg


Notice the drain pipe size and location that I pointed as a give-away detail for the presence of a fuel cell on the XRQ-73
 
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newatlas.com

"Thousands" of electric heli-pods ordered for upcoming World Expo

Austrian startup FlyNow is opening manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia, after the announcement that "thousands" of its coaxial twin-rotor helicopters will transport visitors at the upcoming World Expo in Riyadh.
newatlas.com newatlas.com

This should be interesting to see.
 

As Certification Nears, eVTOL Startups Face Growing Skepticism | Aviation Week Network

After the initial funding wave, investors grow leery of unfulfilled promises by startups.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

This article confirms what people here have been saying for years, that limitations in battery technology and the glacial pace of improvements are making investors wary of the future of electric aircraft. These 3 quotes below summarize the problem:

“We crossed the English Channel in 2015 with our [Airbus] E-Fan, and today in 2024 our batteries have only improved around 20% since then, so the rate of improvement is not even close to what we need,” Lambert says."

“What is needed is a 2,500% increase in energy density, but we’re improving just 5% or so every few years. So it’s not just a matter of time—it will not happen any time soon. Batteries alone are not going to be a scalable way to decarbonize aviation.”

"some startups are wondering whether eVTOL aircraft—including tiltrotor, multicopter and lift-plus-cruise designs—are too complex and costly to certify and maintain relative to more traditional aircraft concepts."

On the positive side the spotlight is now shining on the simpler designs that incorporate hybrid electric propulsion that do need brand new dedicated infrastructure and have an easier path to certification.
 
alberchico said:

As Certification Nears, eVTOL Startups Face Growing Skepticism | Aviation Week Network

After the initial funding wave, investors grow leery of unfulfilled promises by startups.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

This article confirms what people here have been saying for years, that limitations in battery technology and the glacial pace of improvements are making investors wary of the future of electric aircraft. These 3 quotes below summarize the problem:

“We crossed the English Channel in 2015 with our [Airbus] E-Fan, and today in 2024 our batteries have only improved around 20% since then, so the rate of improvement is not even close to what we need,” Lambert says."

“What is needed is a 2,500% increase in energy density, but we’re improving just 5% or so every few years. So it’s not just a matter of time—it will not happen any time soon. Batteries alone are not going to be a scalable way to decarbonize aviation.”

"some startups are wondering whether eVTOL aircraft—including tiltrotor, multicopter and lift-plus-cruise designs—are too complex and costly to certify and maintain relative to more traditional aircraft concepts."

On the positive side the spotlight is now shining on the simpler designs that incorporate hybrid electric propulsion that do need brand new dedicated infrastructure and have an easier path to certification.
Click to expand...
It’s great to see the media including commentators who have done e-aviation for real, has no agenda and is not a;-
Former IT executive, turned self declared futurist
Former sales people, now e-aviation entrepreneur desperate for investor’s cash
Maybe all combinations of the above

The final comment “Now we’re seeing the repercussions, and unfortunately, it’s affecting the entire industry.” is something I’ve previously said in this thread maybe 3-4 years ago. Maybe the commentator is sensing that bubble popping sensation in his investors meetings.

Having followed the battery technology for ten years or more, the improvements we’ve seen over that time have been tweaking and optimisation of what existed before. This inherently levels off, until there’s a step change. I’ve been reading of break through claiming solid state technology will be available in two years for the last ten… still reading em now. The one thing I’ve observed is the battery industry lies to get investors interest and during due diligence, investors seek the advice from people who don’t have any background in the underlying technology.
 
Amateurism is the word you forget. The amount of cash and incentives did attract people unrelated to the technology at hands with a disastrous effect. Now, budgets are scarce and the industrialization of the technology still unproven or defective. And where it has succeeded, it has also increasingly reached the point of market saturation due to customers over empathy that eased market compliance on the early days (but this seldom last).

Airplanes did have to improve passengers comfort and safety to keep the market growth. Instead of heavy Seaplane skimming oceans surface with English country club interiors for elite passengers, we have stratospheric light jets with passengers stacked as in a coach of popular origins.

The EV isn´t dying obviously, and it´s there to stay, most probably. But it needs transformation. A Fast and Furiously less verbose one.
 
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In case you still wonder, the Olympics flying taxies have been delayed to late this year.

www.france24.com

Paris scraps plans for Olympic ‘flying taxis’

Despite initial promises, so-called 'flying taxis' will not be circling above Paris during the Olympic Games this summer. German manufacturer Volocopter Thursday said it has scrapped test flights of…
www.france24.com www.france24.com
 
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Another big financial move (but reverted here) in Japan:

theaircurrent.com

Hanwha writes off investment in eVTOL maker Overair

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace has recorded an expected loss of approximately 140 billion won (around $101 million) related to its investment in Overair, the California-based electric vertical take-off and landing developer that was spun off in 2019 from Karem Aircraft.
theaircurrent.com theaircurrent.com

Overair is a spinoff from Karem.
 
TomcatViP said:
Another big financial move (but reverted here) in Japan:

theaircurrent.com

Hanwha writes off investment in eVTOL maker Overair

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace has recorded an expected loss of approximately 140 billion won (around $101 million) related to its investment in Overair, the California-based electric vertical take-off and landing developer that was spun off in 2019 from Karem Aircraft.
theaircurrent.com theaircurrent.com

Overair is a spinoff from Karem.
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Too bad they never made the demonstrator aircraft fly.
 
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www.aerosociety.com

Bursting the eVTOL bubble

Thinking of investing in an eVTOL company? BILL SWEETMAN suggests ten questions that you should ask before parting with your hard-earned cash.
www.aerosociety.com www.aerosociety.com

This particular point stuck out at me:

"Mike Hirschberg, Director of Strategy for the Vertical Flight Society in Fairfax, Virginia, has called proposed UAM flight reserve rules – 30 minutes of reserve power beyond their planned flight times during the day and 45 minutes at night – an “industry killer.” Instead, he calls for performance-based rules because eVTOLs can “land anywhere,” like a street or a field."

Would the FAA or EASA really water down the reserve requirements just to give this fledgling industry a helping hand ? I feel that would be an invitation to disaster.
 
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:cool: A very interesting presentation.
Western Museum of Flight said:
The Electric Road Goes Airborne, Joby Aviation, Electric Aerial Ridesharing
The Electric Road Goes Airborne, Joby Aviation, Electric Aerial Ridesharing with George Kivork, Head of US State & Local Policy at Joby and Brian Sandberg, Flight Test Lead.
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Video:
View: https://youtu.be/PR9SIS-UMk8?si=58swGOBataD5nqnA

Code: 
https://youtu.be/PR9SIS-UMk8?si=58swGOBataD5nqnA
 
alberchico said:
www.aerosociety.com

Bursting the eVTOL bubble

Thinking of investing in an eVTOL company? BILL SWEETMAN suggests ten questions that you should ask before parting with your hard-earned cash.
www.aerosociety.com www.aerosociety.com

This particular point stuck out at me:

"Mike Hirschberg, Director of Strategy for the Vertical Flight Society in Fairfax, Virginia, has called proposed UAM flight reserve rules – 30 minutes of reserve power beyond their planned flight times during the day and 45 minutes at night – an “industry killer.” Instead, he calls for performance-based rules because eVTOLs can “land anywhere,” like a street or a field."

Would the FAA or EASA really water down the reserve requirements just to give this fledgling industry a helping hand ? I feel that would be an invitation to disaster.
Click to expand...
Ditto. The failure case shouldn't be "I need to land ASAP, there's bound to be a field within 30s of here", but "I need to land ASAP, it's pitch-black, there's a storm blowing, and I'm currently over the middle of one of the Great Lakes*"

* Or other large body of water.

As for landing on a road, that's possibly a US-centric viewpoint. I've watched a lot of episodes of stuff like Emergency Helicopter Medics - reality TV with the UK air ambulances - and even at half a dozen incidents per episode I can count the number of times they've landed on a road on the fingers of one hand, and then it's almost inevitably a motorway, not a suburban street. And that's with the police there on the ground to stop traffic as often as not. On top of which (quite literally!) there's a lot of aerial street furniture on the average suburban road - light standards and telegraph poles in the main, though in the US you'd have to add power lines and transformers, and you do not want to be trying to pick your way through that stuff in an emergency in the dark.
 
www.avweb.com

eVTOL SFAR Expected In October

New rules covering pilot certification and operations of eVTOLs are expected next month.
www.avweb.com www.avweb.com

"Coes told the summit the document addresses the concerns raised by industry stakeholders following the release of the first proposed SFAR a year ago. Those concerns centered on the divergence from normal standards and qualifications for pilots along with technical concerns regarding controls, energy reserves and training devices"

I guess we'll know in the coming weeks if the FAA is going relax some of its strict requirements in order to help this industry. I can definitely see them not being so stringent in regards to the requirement that every aircraft to be certified needs a full motion flight simulator, but reducing the rules regarding energy reserves ? That would shock me.
 
AMSL promoting military roles for their Vertiia:

1726059060418

Image 29-9-2024 at 4.39 am.jpeg
 
GTX said:
AMSL promoting military roles for their Vertiia:


View attachment 742411
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But where’s the electricity to charge this thing coming from? Ah I see, a diesel generator set….. oh wait a minute, why not just put the diesel in the aircraft? With all that real life things around efficiency losses, it’ll be far less diesel required to boot.

Or maybe a military is gonna take tens of square kilometres of solar panels to the war zone, yeah that’s going to work.
 
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GTX said:
AMSL Vertiia plans to use hydrogen fuel cells.
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The first time I’ve seen this one.

Fuel cells are characterised by large draggy external heat exchangers because 50-60% of the fuels energy has to be rejected at a low delta T.

Hydrogen has a low volumetric energy density which means large storage volumes even for short ranges.

I see no evidence of either on this concept which makes think about the competence of the people* promoting this. Also that why I thought it was another battery eVTOL.

* It’s inventor spent most of his career as a naval officer, production engineer, program and bid manager. Then only two years doing anything aircraft design engineering related prior to this start up.
 
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Zoo Tycoon said:
* It’s inventor spent most of his career as a naval officer, production engineer, program and bid manager. Then only two years doing anything aircraft design engineering related prior to this start up.
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I suggest you check your facts.
 

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