At the Paris Air Show we saw a record number of more than 11 eVTOL aircraft developers exhibiting their products. The international gang included (in alphabetical order) Archer, Ascendance Flight Technologies, AutoFlight, EHang, Eve, Joby, Lilium, Overair, Supernal, Volocopter, and Wisk Aero. Our picture shows a Volocity, which is an all-electric aircraft with the ability to vertically take off and land. With its two seats and 18 rotors it is poised to transport passengers between key transportation hubs like train stations and airports.
It has been confirmed at the Air Show in Paris that Volocopter and Groupe ADP will open the first UAM routes for the Paris Olympic Games next year. Paris will therefore be the first European city – and likely the first city in the world – to offer electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) services. Several Volocopter eVTOLs will operate three so-called connection routes and two round trip flight routes for tourists. Volocopter’s operations in Paris will begin from five so-called vertiports and will gradually grow to cover the whole Paris region over the next decade. VoloCity aircraft, which have capacity for one pilot and one passenger, will be flying at heights below 500m and will not be audible from ground level in urban environments offering tourist round trip flights from Paris Heliport and in the south of the capital from Le Bourget.
EHang is a Chinese-owned company that has almost got through the certification process in its home market. Its electric vehicle is a two-seater model that relies on rotors alone – but which is also hoping to fly autonomously. The company is listed on the stock-exchange in New York.
Airbus is a classic aerospace company with its helicopter units based in Donauwörth, in southern Germany. The CityAirbus NextGen is an all-electric, four-seat vertical take-off and landing prototype that was shown for the first time a few years back right in the middle of Ingolstadt, the small Bavarian town which is also host to the manufacturing plant of car manufacturer Audi. Based on a lift and cruise concept, it boasts an 80 km operational range and a cruise speed of 120 km/h.
In 2017 Eve emerged as an innovation project within Embraer-X, a unique business accelerator within Embraer, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world. Embraer’s Eve Air Mobility just like the mobility startup Archer have a different proposition. Their models all have wings combined with different combinations of propellers.
