Urban air mobility (UAM) startup Archer has formed a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to “accelerate” production of Archer’s all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. According to the companies, the agreement will allow Archer to access FCA’s supply chain and advanced composite material capabilities, along with benefiting from its engineering and design experience. In addition to developing and manufacturing its eVTOL concept, Archer plans to create an “all-electric airline” utilizing the vehicle.
“We are excited to team up with one of the world’s largest automotive companies on our mission of advancing the benefits of sustainable air mobility,” said Archer co-founder Adam Goldstein. “This is a first-of-its-kind deal for one of Detroit’s Big Three auto makers in moving into the Urban Air Mobility space. There is now a clear path for Archer to bring mass production to this industry, changing the way people travel in and around cities forever.”
California-based Archer says it will unveil its unnamed eVTOL early this year and intends to start production in 2023. The aircraft is expected to be capable of traveling distances of up to 60 miles at 150 MPH. It has not yet been announced how many passengers it will carry.
“capable of traveling distances of up to 60 miles at 150 MPH”. Is that a typo?
What the heck is someone going to do with an airplane that can go 60 miles?
There may be a hint in the first three words of the article “Urban air mobility”. Don’t try to shoehorn this class of aircraft into a GA context
The mission here would be to transport people from one end of a city to another on, say, a 15 minute flight rather than a 2 hour drive through heavy traffic. And since it’s VTOL, they would operating from rooftops or parking lots, not airports or even heliports.
Since existing helicopters can fulfill this “market” now, I begin to doubt that the market actually exists.
No typo. But please keep in mind that this does NOT mean a passenger-carrying range of 60 miles.
1. Unless passenger pick-up and drop-off locations are restricted exclusively to charging locations, the vehicle would need to be capable of travel from its charging-location-of-origin to its passenger pick-up location. After concluding the passenger-conveyance segment of its mission, the vehicle then would need to be capable of travel from its passenger-drop-off location to another charging location.
2. The FAA would have to relax or repeal existing fuel-reserve duration-of-flight requirements.
MAYBE Archer has accounted for all of this, in their performance assertions. Maybe not. The article doesn’t say.
As always, good luck to the development crew at Archer. And good luck to Chrysler, if it gets that far.