• 25 Feb 2025 04:16 AM
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eVTOL Leaders Separate from the Pack

By Mike Hirschberg, VFS Director of Strategy
Vertiflite, Mar/Apr 2025

Over the past two months, the distance between companies that were previously considered to be leaders in the development and operation of multi-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) has increased dramatically. Archer, Beta and Joby are still the clear eVTOL leaders in flight testing and certification progress in the US. Companies like Embraer’s Eve, Hyundai’s Supernal, Textron eAviation and Boeing-subsidiary Wisk continue as second-wave developers backed by large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), while Vertical Aerospace in the UK has received additional investment to continue.

German companies Volocopter and Lilium continue to struggle against insolvency, while other companies exploring advanced air mobility (AAM), like Airbus, Rolls-Royce Electrical and electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) pioneer Eviation, are exiting the business.

This issue’s summary is a transition point, where new companies that were previously considered second-tier developers, including SkyDrive in Japan, are added, and former leaders, Airbus, will make their last appearance here as an “eVTOL Leader.”

Note that the plethora of Chinese developers have been covered separately (see www.eVTOL.news/china).

Airbus

Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even said during a call reviewing aircraft orders on Jan. 27 that the OEM would pause operations of its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL aircraft at the end of its current flight test campaign. He said the pace of battery technology advancement was too slow to match the urban air mobility (UAM) goals of the four-seat aircraft. The company began test flights of the uncrewed eVTOL demonstrator (shown) in Donauwörth, Germany, in November (see “Electric VTOL News,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2024).

Airbus also projected a delay in its development of hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft because of slower-than-expected progress on hydrogen propulsion, French news agency AFP reported on Feb. 7. Originally with a planned in-service date of 2035, Aviation Week reported a delay of up to 10 years. Aviation Week reported a comment from Airbus, “We recognize that developing a hydrogen ecosystem — including infrastructure, production, distribution and regulatory frameworks — is a huge challenge requiring global collaboration and investment.” Airbus had originally been exploring narrow-body and wide-body airliners powered by hydrogen combustion, as well as a 100-passenger turboprop driven by hydrogen fuel cells, but had quietly dropped the larger airliners from consideration last year.

Archer Aviation

On Dec. 19, San Jose, California-based Archer announced that it had received the certificate of occupancy for its high-volume manufacturing facility, ARC, connected to the Covington Municipal Airport in Georgia, approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of Atlanta. Tooling load-in for the initial manufacturing line at this facility was underway. Production of Archer's Midnight eVTOL aircraft was expected to begin in early 2025, with the goal of ramping to a rate of two aircraft per month by the end of the year. Archer built ARC in close partnership with Stellantis; the automotive giant is contributing capital, advanced manufacturing technology and expertise and experienced personnel with the goal of scaling this facility to 650 aircraft annually by 2030.

Archer announced an exclusive partnership with Anduril Industries on Dec. 12 to develop a hybrid eVTOL aircraft for defense applications (see “eVTOL Leaders Go Global,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2025). Archer also announced that it raised $430M in additional equity capital to support this initiative and for general corporate purposes.

On Jan. 22, Archer announced it had added a fifth retired general to its advisory board — which includes two retired senior executive service (SES) leaders and retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) Michael Durrant — to help guide its Archer Defense business unit. The company is targeting the use of a hybrid-electric Midnight-like aircraft with low thermal and acoustics signatures to compete for a “potential program of record” for the Department of Defense (DoD).

Archer announced on Feb. 11 that it had raised an additional $300M in equity capital to accelerate its “hybrid aircraft platform development as defense opportunities look stronger than expected.” Leading institutional investors participated in this financing, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, the company stated. Archer is also looking at future hybrid-electric applications beyond the defense market.

With this latest infusion of funds, Archer has now raised more than $2B and had a liquidity of around $1B.

Archer announced on Feb. 18 that it had received its certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch its pilot training academy. With his Part 141 Pilot School certification, Archer can now train and qualify pilots as part of its newly launched training academy, with plans to build a pipeline of pilots.

This is the third certificate required by the FAA for Archer to launch air taxi operations when Midnight receives its type certification. The company received its Part 145 maintenance certification in February 2024 and its Part 135 operator certificate in June 2024. Part 142 approval of its training centers is the fourth and final certificate Archer is pursuing.

Beta Technologies

Beta Technologies expanded its electric charging network significantly in 2024, the company announced on Jan. 7. During the year, Beta installed its chargers at 30 new sites. Beta’s network now includes 46 sites across 22 states — with 23 more sites in development for public and private use across the east, west and gulf coasts. Beta chargers use the automotive Combined Charging Standard (CCS) and are thus capable of powering electric aircraft and ground vehicles. The company notes that its 50-ft (15.2-m) cord features its Thermal Management System (TMS), a solution focused on cooling battery packs and cabins between flights.

Meanwhile, Beta continues its manufacturing and certification efforts for its CX300 Alia eCTOL and the A250 Alia eVTOL, targeting entry into service (EIS) in 2025 and 2026, respectively. The company is manufacturing both vehicles in its nearly 200,000-ft² (18,600-m²) production facility in Burlington, Vermont. Beta’s CEO, founder and test pilot, Kyle Clark, made the first flight of the CX300 prototype in November (see “eVTOL Leaders Go Global,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2025).

On Dec. 19, the company announced that New Zealand Air Ambulance Service (NZAAS) has placed a deposit-backed order for its eVTOL aircraft. New Zealand’s largest air ambulance and specialized air charter operator will use the Alia A250 for air ambulance and patient transport operations across New Zealand beginning in 2028. The order for two aircraft and options for another 10 add to some 325 total orders from operators like Air New Zealand, Blade, Bristow, Helijet, LCI, Metro Aviation, United Therapeutics, UPS and the US DoD. Beta also plans to be part of flight testing in Norway with Bristow later this year.

On Jan. 28, Beta, 47G (formerly the Utah Aerospace and Defense Association), the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity and Utah Department of Transportation signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a 10-year, multiphase plan to bring AAM to the state. The partnership will bring charging stations to Utah’s public-use airports, followed by initial eCTOL operations. Then, Utah plans to integrate eVTOL operations, carrying passengers for their regular city-to-city commute, luxury tourism experience or 2034 Olympics travel. With this MOU, Utah has created a blueprint for how public-private partnerships can help drive technological innovation.

Eve Air Mobility

Melbourne, Florida-based Eve began ground testing the pusher propeller on its full-scale demonstrator at its Gavião Peixoto facility in Brazil, the company announced on Jan. 26 (see “TVF 2025 Highlights AAM Progress and Challenges,” Vertiflite, MarApr 2025). The company also announced in January that it would explore and advance the use of Vector, Eve’s urban air traffic management (UTM) software solution, with JetSetGo, a private aircraft charter in India (see “Electric VTOL News,” Vertiflite, MarApr 2025).

On Feb. 5, the company announced its collaboration with PRS Aeroportos — a consortium between Pax Aeroportos SA, the landowner of Campo de Marte Airport, and vertiport operator UrbanV SpA — and VertiMob Infrastructure Ltda. The collaboration will support establishing operational regulations for eVTOL aircraft through the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) regulatory “sandbox” for vertiports.

The 24-month project provides an environment for the companies to develop innovative solutions for vertiports. Areas of focus encompass key regulations including physical infrastructure capacity, fire-fighting systems, aircraft noise requirements and access control measures. The collaboration will also address vertiport takeoff and landing layouts, final approach and departure trajectories, and maintenance and support facilities.

Joby Aviation

At the end of 2024, Santa Cruz, California-based Joby gave updates on its progress towards certification of its five-seat eVTOL air taxi, the S4.

The company announced on Dec. 17 that it had completed static load testing of the tail structure, marking the first time Joby has tested a major aerostructure of its aircraft for-credit with FAA representatives present. The tests took place in Santa Cruz, California, as part of a testing campaign covering all the structures, components and systems on the aircraft, producing data that is required for FAA type certification of the aircraft.

During the tests, engineers applied loads to the aircraft's tail structure that far exceed the maximum forces the structure is expected to experience during flight. The FAA-conforming tail structure used in the test, along with the test procedure, instrumentation and applied loads, are outlined in Joby's certification documents, which have been approved by the FAA as part of the certification process.

Joby announced on Dec. 20 that it had conducted its first FAA testing under Type Inspection Authorization (TIA). TIA testing is considered the final phase of the type certification process and consists of FAA test pilots conducting testing to validate an aircraft’s performance and safety in accordance with the company’s approved certification test plans.

This TIA testing involved FAA pilots evaluating human factors elements of flight safety using an FAA-conforming flight deck in a Joby simulator, and measured pilot workload under various expected flight conditions, physical ergonomics of the flight deck, as well as other human factors aspects of aircraft safety. Four FAA test pilots completed three days of TIA testing during the engagement.

The company also highlighted its progress in 2024. It built and flew three new aircraft: N541JX (serial number 00006) in May 2024, N542JX (00007) in October 2024 and N544JX (00008) in December 2024, with N542JX also conducting international demonstrations in both Japan and South Korea. In addition, the surviving Gen 2.0 S4 — N542BJ, the second five-seat technology demonstrator (serial number JAS4-202) — was converted to run on a hydrogen-electric fuel cell and flew 561 miles (903 km).

On Feb. 7, Joby posted on social media that FAA pilots and engineers assigned to the certification program were at its Marina, California, production center and flight-testing facility to observe crewed flight testing. “These flights followed some of the exact test cards we intend to use for TIA flight testing — and which FAA pilots flew in our flight simulator, previously used for our first TIA activity back in December,” Joby noted.

In mid-February, Joby also posted images of its flight testing in Marina, “where we're flying multiple aircraft in support of our FAA certification program and early commercialization,” as well as N5421A (00005) with the US Air Force’s 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Lilium Aerospace

Munich, Germany-based Lilium GmbH filed for “selfadministration” (similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US) at the end of October. On Dec. 20, Lilium terminated its 750 remaining employees but announced a “Christmas Miracle” on Dec. 24. Mobile Uplift Corporation GmbH — a new company “set up by an experienced consortium of investors from Europe and North America” — intended to acquire Lilium’s operating assets and employees and invest €200M ($210M). The company was reconstituted on Jan. 7 and renamed “Lilium Aerospace.”

At the beginning of January, Mobile Uplift Corporation — backed by German startup investors Jens Beckers, Christian Reber and Frank Thelen — provided €5M ($5.3M) to fund operations until the deal could be complete, which was expected by the end of January.

Lilium Aerospace’s investors tapped Severin Tatarczyk to lead the company. “The investor consortium is working intensively to ensure that operations can be resumed as soon as possible and that the delay in [bringing] the Lilium Jet to market caused by the insolvency is kept to a minimum,” the new company told reporters.

However, the rescue funding had not arrived by press time and Lilium Aerospace filed for insolvency on Feb. 21. The company said in a statement, “While talks about alternative solutions are still ongoing, the chance for restructuring right now is highly unlikely and therefore operations will be stopped.”

According to German news site WirtschaftsWoche (“Business Week”), the bulk of the capital infusion, €150M ($158M), was expected to come from Slovakian entrepreneur Marian Boček, founder and managing director of the startup InoBat, a battery cell manufacturer for the mobility sector. However, the news site speculated that Boček didn’t have the funds himself and was attempting to get financing for it.

Lilium had raised $1.5B since 2017 and had three prototypes of its seven-seat Lilium Jet in final assembly for ground and flight tests — and some 800 aircraft preorders. It remains to be seen whether the company has a future.

SkyDrive

Japan-based SkyDrive announced on Feb. 10 that it had reached consensus with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) on the certification basis for its three-seat SKYDRIVE eVTOL aircraft. That agreement detailed in the G-1 issue paper (stage 2), received from the JCAB, specified airworthiness regulations SkyDrive could use in the type certification process for ground and flight tests in Japan. SkyDrive is also coordinating a certification process with the FAA. In December, the developer also announced a partnership with Osaka Metro to launch flight routes in Japan by 2028.

With this press release, the company released the first photo of its SKYDRIVE SD-05 demonstrator (JX0187) in flight. As first announced at the VFS Transformative Vertical Flight meeting in early February (see “TVF 2025 Highlights AAM Progress and Challenges,” Vertiflite, MarApr 2025) SkyDrive began flying its first full-scale prototype last year.

In January, SkyDrive announced that it had signed a partnership with JetSetGo, a leading private jet operator in India. JetSetGo also agreed to preorder 50 SKYDRIVEs (see “Electric VTOL News,” Vertiflite, MarApr 2025).

Supernal

Hyundai’s eVTOL subsidiary, Supernal, has been relatively quiet over the past year, since it unveiled its S-A2 concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2024. At the time, technical leaders commented privately that it was not their final configuration.

In February, a full-scale eVTOL design was seen at the Mojave Air & Space Port by passing photographer Matt Hartman of Shorealone Films (shown). This was confirmed as the Supernal full-scale technology demonstrator (FSTD) by The Air Current’s Elan Head.

The FSTD design reflects an earlier design published in a 2022 patent application (US2024 0217656 A1), the article said. It features pivoting wingtip propellers and a high wing with left and right booms, each with a fore and aft lift propeller. The FSTD and some of the patent designs feature a truncated inverted V-tail, like the 1960s OV-10 Bronco.

The ground testing of the FSTD should lead to first flight later this year. Supernal “expects to fly a more representative S-A2 prototype in 2026,” The Air Current stated.

The FSTD design is notably different from the CES 2024 mockup, which had four large forward tilting propellers and four large aft tilting propellers, plus a V-tail.

Vertical Aerospace, Ltd.

In November, Bristol, UK-based Vertical made its first piloted, untethered flight of its second VX4 prototype (MSN2) and reached a comprehensive funding agreement with longtime investor Mudrick Capital Management, totaling $180M (see “eVTOL Leaders Go Global,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2025). The VX4 featured four five-bladed tilting propellers ahead of the wing and four four-bladed lift-propellers behind the wing.

On Jan. 8, the company stated that it had become “only the second company in the world to achieve piloted thrustborne flight manoeuvres with a full-scale vectored thrust eVTOL aircraft” after Joby Aviation. The initial maneuvering flight at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire was made after Vertical had received approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to expand its Permit to Fly, enabling the company to progress from piloted hover to piloted, thrustborne, low-speed flight maneuvers at altitude.

The company announced on Feb. 4 that it had completed all of its “Phase 2” low-speed thrustborne testing, after 30 test flights by Simon Davies, Vertical’s Chief Test Pilot. Tests of the aircraft, registered as G-EVTA, included hover and lowspeed flight maneuvers, as well as executing handling and performance procedures including roll, yaw and pirouettes. The flights collected hundreds of data points to determine the reliability of the aircraft systems, as well as thrust levels, lift efficiency, and power-to-thrust ratio and control responsiveness, Vertical said. The flights “experienced no system failures and exceeded expectations for stability and performance.”

The company is now preparing for piloted wingborne flight, which it says will be “a world first for a full-scale tiltrotor [sic] eVTOL,” as Joby has not reported making a piloted transition of its aircraft. For this Phase 3, the CAA must first expand Vertical’s Permit to Fly. Once approved, the VX4 will take off, fly and land like a conventional aircraft, with lift generated by its wings rather than its propellers. After completed wingborne testing, the VX4 will enter a final phase of transition testing (Phase 4) to demonstrate conversions between vertical and forward flight modes.

Meanwhile, Vertical will continue to perform important system and component testing, as well as complete the next prototype (MSN3) to accelerate the VX4’s flight test program and demonstration capability.

The company also announced on Jan. 24 that it had completed a fundraise of $90M (upsized from its initial target of $75M), with more than $60M from new investors plus $25M previous announced as part of the agreement from Mudrick Capital.

Vertical notes that it has around 1,500 preorders, with VX4 customers across four continents, including American Airlines, Japan Airlines, GOL and Bristow. The company appoints aviation industry veteran, Dómhnal Slattery, as Chairman of its Board of Directors (see “Leadership Moves,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2024).

Volocopter GmbH

As reported in the last issue, Volocopter was continuing its flight testing, as well as the final assembly of its fourth and fifth VoloCity prototypes. In December, the company announced that it had officially completed 75% of the audits required to obtain its type certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The company was also running out of funds and was seeking investors to save it from potential bankruptcy (see “eVTOL Leaders Go Global,” Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2024).

On Dec. 26, Volocopter filed for insolvency proceedings. The Karlsruhe Local Court began the provisional insolvency administration the following day and appointed Tobias Wahl of Anchor Rechtsanwältegesellschaft mbH, as its administrator. “We are ahead of our industry peers in our technological, flight test and certification progress,” said CEO Dirk Hoke. “That makes us an attractive company to invest in while we organize ourselves with internal restructuring.”

Numerous successful financing rounds have driven the company's development and operations in the past, the company said, which has reportedly raised about $544M to date. “With one of the lowest burn rates in the industry, Volocopter has successfully operated in an extremely difficult financial environment. However, despite recent intensive fundraising efforts, finding a viable solution to maintain regular operations outside of insolvency proceedings has not been possible.”

Business operations are continuing as usual during the insolvency proceedings, while seeking additional investments. “The company needs financing to take the final steps towards market entry. We will endeavor to develop a restructuring concept by the end of February and implement it with investors,” explained Wahl.

If it succeeds in attracting sufficient investments, Volocopter hopes to gain EASA certification and to enter the market this year. Founded in 2011, the company employs more than 500 people and has completed over 2,000 successful public and private test flights. The press release noted that its past investors have included Mercedes-Benz Group, Geely, Intel Capital and BlackRock.

On Feb. 10, the company provided an update of its flight testing with its VoloCity prototype. In one test, the aircraft accelerated from hover to 54 kt (100 km/h) and then stepped to 60 kt (111km/h), the critical airspeed limitation defined to ensure the structural integrity of aircraft during high-speed flight conditions such as dives (VD). It also tested control responses at high speeds, proving significant high-speed directional stability.

Volocopter also conducted four high-speed single-motor failure test points at 45–55 kt (83–101 km/h) to ensure the aircraft performs as expected in improbable motor failure scenarios. This was followed by high-speed double motor failure test points at up to 48 kt (89 km/h), “another big step toward clearing the motor failure testing envelope,” the company stated.

As this issue was going to press, Volocopter announced it had signed an agreement with Valence, France-based Jet Systems Hélicoptères Services, a licensed air service offering with over 30 years of passenger flight services, to bring eVTOL aircraft services to France.

Wisk Aero, LLC

Just before the end of 2024, Boeing subsidiary Wisk released status photos of the first prototype of its operation design, todate named only its “Generation 6” eVTOL. In the photos, it had completed wing mate and “weight on skids.” The Mountain View, California-based Wisk plans to fly its pilotless, four-seat Gen 6 demonstrator later this year.

FlightGlobal published an interview in February that highlighted the company’s quarter-scale wing-tunnel model testing at the Boeing V/STOL Wind Tunnel (BVWT) near Philadelphia. The company had posted in June 2024 that it was conducting propeller testing in the BVWT (see “eVTOL Leaders Begin Transitions,” Vertiflite, July/Aug 2024).