eVTOL Meets Big Auto
“Automakers realize their expertise is at producing very complicated vehicles at scale. They can offer manufacturing prowess to these companies as a way to tap into a potentially lucrative opportunity.”
Edison Yu,
Deutsche Bank analyst
Greetings Doroni family,
Earlier this month Embraer’s Eve Air Mobility and Porsche revealed they’re working together on global manufacturing and other macro strategies for Eve’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft—another partnership that’s added to the long list of growing relationships between eVTOL developers and the auto industry.??
Last week, Deloitte’s Advanced Air Mobility Report gave us a comprehensive overview of how Advanced Air Mobility could become mainstream by the 2030’s as companies compete to make it a commercial success. Looking at how AAM can compete with existing modes of transportation gives us a new sense of how consumer perspective could shift, accelerating public adoption of eVTOLS as available mobility options increase. With this understanding, it's easy to see how some industry players, Doroni Aerospace included, are envisioning a larger unified mobility ecosystem where eVTOL and the auto industry overlap.?
A Unified Mobility Ecosystem
In 2021, Honda announced a concept for an entire electric transportation ecosystem that would be coordinated by a ride-sharing app. The auto giant is currently developing its own eVTOL aircraft within the framework of a larger, unified plan for a “mobility ecosystem,” which would include ground transport, air transport, and a reservation service system. The company pictures this system would be used by travelers to reserve autonomous road travel to a Honda vertiport, followed by air travel via their fixed-winged eVTOL, and then an autonomous car would carry them on the final leg of their journey.
Hyundai Motor Group also announced last year the spinoff of its eVTOL division, a new company called Supernal. Supernal will be based in the US and will lead Hyundai’s Urban Air Mobility Division, which is expected to develop a “family of electric air vehicles.” The company plans not only to produce products in the eVTOL market, but to also provide services through Urban Air Mobility infrastructure. Much like Honda’s “mobility ecosystem,” Supernal plans to create an entire transportation network. The company describes taking a car to a vertiport, taking off in an eVTOL, and riding in an e-scooter for the last mile—all through a single app on your smartphone.??
This vision of a unified mobility ecosystem is also mirrored in McKinsey & Company’s “Advanced Air Mobility in 2030,” in which three aerospace and mobility experts describe a future in which electric flying vehicles are a safe, affordable, and sustainable way to travel. According to Kersten Heineke, “This all will be one seamless experience. I imagine it to be fully integrated into my mobility app: my e-scooter ride to the office in the morning, the trip to the airport, the flight, the trip from the airport into the city, and then, again, the scooter for the last mile. It may even be one integrated ticket.”
Auto Industry + eVTOL
When it comes to commercial air taxis and eVTOL developers in general, capital funding and expertise can make the pivotal difference between success or failure. Many of the leading air taxi developers who are hoping to achieve FAA certification within the next few years are looking to the next phase, and how they can strengthen their eventual manufacturing programs. These air taxi companies are partnering up with automotive companies across various roles ranging from suppliers, investors, to consultants.?
Here are a few of the more prominent partnerships that have been announced to date:
领英推荐
The Electric Vehicle Movement
According to the EPA, in 2020 alone the transportation segment was the leading offender of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for a whopping 27%. As electric cars and trucks gain even more prominence by the day, big names in the auto industry are considering the potential of electrifying all forms of transportation, including aviation. This push is due in large part thanks to the drive to reduce transportation’s massive carbon footprint on the environment by creating zero-emission vehicles and aircraft.?
There is some definite crossover between the air taxi development the industry is seeing in AAM with the emerging electric vehicle (EV) space. Of course, the high-performance battery management systems necessary for eVTOLS are much more intensive than those of electric vehicles, but there is an opportunity for valuable synergy across battery-cell development and expense. If anyone is going to do it, the world’s major auto companies will certainly have an advantage at scaling production of eVTOL batteries and lowering their cost. We’ve also seen some evidence of overlap between the labor force and potential employees, with leading eVTOL developers poaching engineers specializing in powertrains and battery systems from companies like Tesla and Apple.?
Manufacturing
It goes without saying that perhaps the biggest reason for the growing number of auto industry partnerships with eVTOL developers is the manufacturing expertise they provide. In order to pay for the high cost of developing and building eVTOL aircraft, developers are planning to scale up manufacturing and flight operations. The hope is that eventually some of these companies will be producing thousands of air taxis, much more than the output of traditional airplane manufacturers.?
“That’s much more akin to what the auto industry does in terms of scale, production, and cadence,” according to Edison Yu, a Deutsche Bank analyst for the air taxi industry who has spent years analyzing the auto industry. “Automakers realize their expertise is at producing very complicated vehicles at scale. They can offer manufacturing prowess to these companies as a way to tap into a potentially lucrative opportunity.”
Along with this potential manufacturing boost provided by the auto industry, an air taxi operator flying an aircraft with a well-known automotive brand with a reliable reputation could be a huge advantage. There are many questions about how long it would take passengers to feel comfortable about flying on a new form of air transportation, and this type of backing could have a sizable impact on expediting public adoption.?
?Doroni Aerospace’s Role
Time will certainly tell, but it stands to reason that air taxi developers and automotive manufacturers could wind up being a powerful combination as the eVTOL industry evolves over the coming years.?
Doroni Aerospace in particular, as a personal eVTOL developer, is anticipating a range of successful exit opportunities within our reach. This may come in the form of a traditional IPO or through a merger-and-acquisition, where the company plans to position itself to be acquired by either: global defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin; automobile manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota, and Tesla; aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Embraer; airlines such as JetBlue; and large courier or rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft.?
We are building the next iteration of the commuter experience with our development of the H1 eVTOL platform. It’s our mission to bring safe and consumer-first air transportation to the industry and the world and our team has the experience, technical ingenuity, and drive to help get the industry off the ground, with a targeted Light Sport Aircraft certification with the FAA ahead of our product launch in the second half of 2024.?
Once complete, the H1’s easy-to-use control system, intuitive flight design, and quick deployment will completely revolutionize the way we commute. What’s more, it will change the way we respond to emergencies and natural disasters, the way we ship goods, and the way we support our military and law enforcement.?
We also just completed our first crowdfunding raise on StartEngine.com, reaching our $1.07M max offering early, and recently achieved a new company valuation of $159M, up from the previous $14M.?