An electric vertical take-off and landing ( eVTOL ) aircraft is a variety of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically. This technology came about owing to major advances in electric propulsion ( motors , batteries , fuel cells , electronic controllers ) and the emerging need for new aerial vehicles for urban air mobility that can enable greener and quieter flights. Electric and hybrid propulsion systems (EHPS) have also the potential of lowering the operating costs of aircraft.
35-429: Skyports Drone Services is a British provider and operator of eVTOL drones for cargo delivery, survey and monitoring. The company became famous for using drones to carry Covid-19 samples and test kits in some parts of Argyll and Bute which has been described as a UK first. It also received UK Government funding for establishing service and training facility at Argyll and Bute Council-owned Oban Airport . The company
70-535: A cargo eVTOL aircraft, the VoloDrone, that can carry up to 200 kg with a maximum range of 40 km. eVTOL systems have multiple applications in agriculture, particularly in the areas of crop protection and cover cropping. Guardian Agriculture offers a heavy-lift unmanned aerial platform, the SC1, capable of carrying over 100 kg. In 2023 Guardian Agriculture's SC1 became the first eVTOL system to be approved by
105-480: A daily inter-island mail distribution service between three islands on Orkney. The project will initially operate for three months, with the intent to extend in the future. This is the first UK drone delivery project which can be conducted on a permanent basis under existing regulatory frameworks. Recently, Skyports Drone Services announced Speedbird Aero as new aircraft partner for the Orkney I-Port operation,
140-534: A drone delivery project established in partnership with Royal Mail, Orkney Islands Council Harbour Authority and Loganair. Speedbird Aero has been selected as the latest aircraft partner to join Skyports Drone Services’ world-class drone fleet. The Brazilian drone manufacturer will provide its DLV-2 aircraft for Skyports Drone Services’ global delivery and logistics projects, starting with three months of inter-island delivery flights for Royal Mail for
175-490: A folding wing design that allows easy storage land transport of the vehicle. Takeoff occurs with the wings in the folded position, with an in-flight transition to fully extended. Hybrid designs employ some fixed and some tilting motors, as shown by Archer Maker, Vertical Aerospace VA-1X, and Wisk Cora. Typical multicopters do not use wings, relying exclusively on the turning blades for lift. Tandem wing designs use front and rear wings, optionally attached to each other at
210-572: A high technological readiness level for battery-powered eVTOLs. 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 . Four American companies have military airworthiness contracts through
245-420: A hybrid that pivots the rotor-holding part of its otherwise fixed box wing design. Another approach to thrust vectoring is to use flaps to divert air coming from a horizontal motor downward to create lift. Craft Aero is notable for its box wing that is attached to the bottom of the fuselage in the front and the top of the fuselage in the back, presenting a diamond shape when viewed from above. The design includes
280-630: A postal service using drones in Scotland. In 2023, they announced a Hub Operator Program for participants in Colombia, UAE, the UK, Kenya, and Korea. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) have issued the light UAS ( Unmanned Aircraft Systems ) operator certificate (LUC) to Skyports Drone Services and recognised across all 31 EASA member countries. It received Part 107 Waiver to fly UAS BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) and Part 375 Foreign Aircraft Permit in
315-461: A rear pusher prop for cruising. It uses a mostly aluminum frame, with carbon-fiber/ aramid -reinforced polymer bodywork. The craft is 8.62 m (28.3 ft) wide, 6.15 m (20.2 ft) long and 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in) high. The battery pack holds 13.5-kWh. Empty weight is 488 kg (1,076 lb) and hosts an up to 79 kg (174 lb) pilot. The vehicle features at least three flight controllers, driving 32 vertical propellers in
350-473: A remarkable set of software tools that build on more than a decade of experience enabling on-demand mobility." In 2020, Tetra Aviation won the "disruptor award" at the GoFly personal flight contest for its single-seat eVTOL. In 2021, the company announced its Mk5 personal eVTOL that it expects to deliver in 2022. It incorporates 32 vertical lift rotors distributed across long, thin front and rear wings, along with
385-531: A series of Pinoy flying LuftCar super-jeepney ( hydrogen Jeepney van eVTOL built around eFrancisco's vehicle chassis for island hopping ). In April 2020, the USAF announced $ 25 million-worth funding of eVTOL projects for development in 2021. 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 . It
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#1732787959035420-496: A significant increase in interest among aircraft manufacturers for eVTOLs, and companies such as Boeing , Airbus and Bell have also worked on the technology: In addition to these major aircraft manufacturers, startups have been playing an important role in the development of these air vehicles and had sometimes been leaders in technological advances. Uber published a paper on a project called Elevate co-authored by Jeff Holden, Nikhil Goel, and Mark Moore. The paper outlined
455-455: A turbine generator for increased range. Odys Aviation vectors thrust from its 16 motors by extending flaps that direct the backward-traveling air downward at take-off and landing. Tilt-wing configurations pivot the frocio wing along with its attached motors like Dufour Aerospace. Lift and cruise systems use one set of motors for vertical flight and another set for cruising, such as Beta Alia, Airbus , Eve, and eMagic. PteroDynamics uses
490-473: Is included. It has yet to fly. In 2021, Volocopter conducted South Korea's first crewed eVTOL flight. In November 2021, the National Academy of Sciences published a study 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. The study also assigned
525-433: Is the science about mechanics that deals with the motion of air and other gases, involving aerodynamics , thermophysics and aerostatics . It is the branch of mechanics that deals with the motion of gases (especially air) and their effects on bodies in the flow. The fluid flow and structure are interactive systems and their interaction is dynamic. The fluid force causes the structure to deform which changes its orientation to
560-761: Is working on the Pipistrel 801 , a 5 seats air taxi. Another example is Volocopter , which proposed its air taxi service called VoloCity, based on the Volocopter 2X . The Google -owned company Wing has been offering an eVTOL UAV delivery service since 2020. Their drones are able to fly up to 100 km and carry up to 1.5 kg. Amazon Prime Air and UPS are two others companies using drone delivery. A German aerospace company called Wingcopter in collaboration with UNICEF has also delivered vaccines in Vanuatu in 2018. In 2020 wingcopter eVTOL drone
595-852: The AugustaWestland Project Zero (Italy), the Volocopter VC1 (Germany) and the Opener BlackFly (US). It was officially introduced by the Vertical Flight Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2014 during the "Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Joint Workshop on Enabling New Flight Concepts through Novel Propulsion and Energy Architectures" held in Virginia . Since then, there has been
630-468: The SC-VTOL-01 : Special Condition for VTOL aircraft. This document established the safety and design objectives for VTOL aircraft. It includes a special section for eVTOL. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a study in 2009 on general aviation recommendations for the next 20 years. In particular Part 23-Amendment 64 includes eVTOL. Aeromechanics Aeromechanics
665-538: 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 . The concept of eVTOL aircraft emerged in 2009 when a video of the NASA Puffin eVTOL concept went viral on November 11, 2009, showcasing a single person concept rendering of the technology, and concept in flight. Following this, the first Puffin paper at
700-533: The FAA for nationwide operation. In 2020, JumpAero announced it was working on a small, one-seater eVTOL aircraft to allow the rapid deployment of emergency services . This type of vehicle is not a replacement for land vehicles or helicopters, but a new tool that, thanks to the electric motor, is faster than the others. In 2020, the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM) consortium studied
735-453: The Leo, a 3-seat, 250 mph (400 km/h), 300 mi (480 km) vehicle. It hosts 16 40-cm diameter, 10-kw ducted fans for vertical lift, and 6 28 cm diameter, turbine-bladed rear engines for horizontal thrust. The wing is a double box-wing design. The intent is that it be small enough to park in a standard automobile space. The split battery system holds 66-kWh. A ballistic parachute
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#1732787959035770-618: The Orkney I-Port project. This aeronautical company–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . EVTOL Original eVTOL aircraft designs are being developed by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that include legacy manufacturers such as Airbus , Boeing , 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
805-591: The US military's Agility Prime program: Joby Aviation , Beta Technologies , Lift Aircraft, and most recently Kitty Hawk , whose Heaviside aircraft was accepted in July 2021. Archer, Joby, Lilium, and Vertical joined special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) to go public. The first was Archer Aviation , who simultaneously announced a $ 1,000,000,000 order of 200+ aircraft from United Airlines in February 2021. Archer
840-564: The USA. In Singapore, it has received Class 1 Activity Permit for UAS Operations and UA Operator Permit (UOP) to fly BVLOS from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore . Royal Mail and Skyports Drone Services announced the launch of the Orkney I-Port operation, a drone delivery project established in partnership with Orkney Islands Council Harbour Authority and Loganair. Royal Mail and Skyports Drone Services have established
875-689: The VFS Specialists Conference on Aeromechanics , on January 9, 2010. This concept utilized a new technology developed at NASA called Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP). Additional Puffin papers were published on September 13 at the 10th AIAA ATIO Conference, NASA Puffin Electric Tailsitter VTOL Concept and Puffin Redundant Electric Powertrain System. This was fast followed in 2011 by several industry efforts, namely
910-461: The benefits of eVTOL for direct hospital-to-hospital transportation of patients, organs and drugs. eVTOL aircraft have been created to introduce electric flight into recreational or sporting aviation, such as racing series Airspeeder . In 2024, LuftCar signed a Memorandum of understanding with eFrancisco Motor Corporation in the Philippines, to develop, integrate, deploy, brand and market
945-540: The case of motor or flight controller failure, with a parachute in the event of total failure. The plane is to be sold as an experimental kit aircraft that requires only a private pilot license. 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. In 2021, Urban eVTOL announced
980-568: The feasibility of an on-demand aviation transportation system. That document, along with subsequent annual Elevate summits the company hosted from 2017 to 2019, helped advance the concepts of eVTOL aircraft and urban air mobility (UAM) from a science-fiction concept to a potential aerospace sector pursued by dozens of development projects. In December, 2020, Uber's Elevate was acquired by Joby Aviation . 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
1015-399: The flow and hence the resulting fluid force. Areas that comprise this are within the technology of aircraft and helicopters since these use propellers and rotors . Additionally, aeromechanics is critical in the design and analysis of wind turbines, drones, and various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The principles of aeromechanics are also applied in space exploration vehicles, where
1050-536: The motors/propellers, such as the Volcopter 2X or the Jetson One . Vectored thrust designs change the direction of thrust, vectoring thrust vertically for takeoff/landing and horizontally while cruising. The entire wing (tilt-wing) can pivot to or just the rotors (tilt-rotor). The Archer Maker, Lilium Jet , Joby S4 , Vertical Aerospace VA-X4, and Zuri 2.0 are tilt-rotor craft. The AMSL Aero Vertiia uses
1085-973: The wing tips. Box wing or closed wing designs also use two wings, but the wings are connected in such a way that the wingtips are eliminated. The wings may be vertically stacked or arranged front and rear as in tandem designs. Ducted wing designs open to expose the lift-off fans, and close around them for faster higher-speed cruising. Most current designs are powered by batteries , although some designs use hydrogen fuel cells . Currently, batteries suffer from low specific energy (causing range and thus safety issues). Fuel cells have previously suffered from lower specific power (which could be too low for vertical takeoff/landing), but newer designs claim to have solved this problem with much higher specific power. There are also proposals to use batteries for takeoff/landing, and hydrogen fuel cells for cruising. Many eVTOL concept models are designed for air taxi applications. For instance, Pipistrel , an Uber Elevate partner,
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1120-598: Was also the first to publicly reveal its Maker aircraft in-person that year. Vertical Aerospace announced pre-orders for 1,000 eVTOLs in June 2021, including from American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and aircraft lessor, Avalon Holdings. 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. Many designs operate without wings. Multicopters typically use radial arms to host
1155-822: Was founded in 2018 by Duncan Walker & Simon Morrish. It is headquartered in London with additional offices located in Singapore, Dubai, Columbia and Japan. In 2020 Skyports Drone Services was authorised by the Scottish government to carry Covid-19 kits from Mull, Clachan-Seil and Lochgilphead to Lorn and Islands Hospital in Oban. It was jointly funded by the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency . The Royal Mail partnered with it to launch
1190-515: Was the first time that a manned eVTOL aircraft took flight under USAF Agility Prime programme. 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. Since 2018, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been working on the certification of such aircraft. In July 2019, they published
1225-466: Was used to deliver COVID-19 test kits to Isle of Mull. Heavy-lift unmanned air vehicles included companies such as Sabrewing Aircraft Company Sabrewing Rhaegal , Elroy Elroy Air Chaparral and Pipistrel have unveiled heavy-lift uncrewed cargo aircraft, with the Sabrewing aircraft having a capacity to carry a payload of up to 5,400 pounds in a vertical take off scenario. Volocopter has also developed
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