THE CRAZY MODE eVTOL

October 23, 2022

It's no longer an empty project, everyone is in the process of getting into eVTOL, an acronym that stands for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing, in other words some kind of electric helicopters. No less than 10 companies have been created to develop their own machine. This goes from California where Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are working on models that can carry 4 passengers at these speeds of ?240 km/h to 320 km/h over distances ranging from 100 km to 240 km, to China or New Zealand still associated with a Californian company that is working on more modest systems:?2 passengers including the pilot and ?distances of the order of 40 km at 160 km / h. 6 other operators are also listed: in Germany Volocopter and ?Lilium, in France Airbus, Texas Jaunt Air Mobility, Vertical Aerospace in Great Britain and Urban Aeronautics in Israel.

How to navigate this all-out search??How to distinguish what is really advancing from projects whose future is very uncertain?

First of all, let us note that all have a common objective: it is to serve large cities, where road traffic has become so dense that many businessmen are led to use the air. This has existed in Sao Paulo for years with the multiplication of helicopter urban platforms. As for the technique, it seems that electric propulsion is the only one retained, which explains the short range with the sole exception of the project of the Californian company Joby Aviation which sets the objective of 240 km at 320 km / h.

I also notice that all projects are initiated with a pilot on board. We are still far from fully automated flying machines while the autonomous car is already being tested in several cities in the United States. Finally, eVTOLs are for the ?moment only a kind of helicopters with electric propulsion for obvious noise reduction objectives, the only way to be accepted in urban areas.

However, apart from the purely technical aspects, there are still serious obstacles to overcome. If the objective is to serve large cities, the first concern will be to find points acceptable to the surrounding populations. When we see, for example, how the Parisian municipality is working hard to reduce the surface area of the only heliport of Issy Moulineaux, we wonder where we will find room to install future eVTOLs . Some cities have been built with skyscrapers that can provide an embryonic solution, but this is not the case for European agglomerations. And then it is difficult to see how the freedom to move in an ultra-sensitive environment, if only for security reasons and fear of attacks, without theft being controlled. Civil aviation will then have to rethink the management of airspace over major cities. It's not a given.

In short, without wanting to play the killjoy, we have not yet arrived at the time when these beautiful flying objects will invade the sky. And yet some believe in it as hard as iron. American Airlines has placed an order for 50 eVTOLs from Britain's Vertical Aerospace, with a pre-order for 250 aircraft and an additional 100 options. United Airlines has ordered 200 from the same company. The English machine called VA-1X is built to carry 1 pilot, 4 passengers over a distance of 160 km at 240 km / h. This is quite powerful and is close to the small civilian helicopters already widely used in the world. Azul in Brazil and Air Asia are also on board. Finally, it seems that this new, less polluting technology is of primary interest to the major airlines. And after that we will say that air transport does nothing to decarbonize!

As much as I am skeptical about the usefulness and ability to deploy this new aerial equipment in large cities, I am also certain of its interest in opening up small towns poorly served by road or rail. In France only 25 prefectures and 50 sub-prefectures donot have direct access to a motorway or TGV. This is a considerable obstacle to their development at a time when with the tremendous growth of the internet and social networks, work can arrive in the most remote places. ?With a range of around 100 km, there is a considerable market in the world to connect small towns to the nearest airport.

Municipalities have always been reluctant to use the services of helicopters, which are convenient and perfectly reliable, for so-called ecological reasons, in fact because it is considered a mode of transport reserved for the rich. Now comes a possibility that they would be foolish to pass up.