The eVTOL Breakdown

No time like the present to catch up on eVTOLs, so let’s dig in!

What you need to know in eVTOLs this week

AutoFlight

What do Germany, China and Japan have in common?

AutoFlight has their tentacles in all of them.

Having R&D in Augsburg, Germany and a manufacturing plant in Shandong, China might be a recipe for success...

AutoFlight delivered their first eVTOL, the five passenger model called ‘Prosperity’ to an unnamed customer in the Advanced Air Mobility industry in Japan.

The aircraft is still a bit shy of certification, so it can’t be used commercially, but the anonymous buyer plans to conduct demonstration flights at the 2025 Osaka World Expo and eventually roll out services in Japan.

AutoFlight (again!)

A sister eVTOL designed for cargo transport, “CarryAll,” was awarded type certification by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Even better news for the number crunchers at AutoFlight is that buyers are already lined up. Roughly 200 orders have been placed from companies like ZTO Express (the DHL of China).

TCAB

Staying with the China theme, Shanghai based TCab Tech closed a $20 million Series A funding round. The check came from an unnamed “strategic investment fund’ from the middle east. .

This cash injection follows $25 million they raised the last few years… Seems like launching an eVTOL requires burning through a lot of money.

So what are they going to do with the cash?

Step 1 - shorten the time to certification of the E20 eVTOL they’re developing. Step 2 - offer urban air taxi services and aerial sightseeing tours in China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

TCab stated they have 200 provisional orders for the E20 in hand. At an unconfirmed price of $970,000, it makes sense why investor interest is piqued.

Skyports Infrastructure

All these eVTOLs are going to need places to takeoff and land. That’s where Skyports comes into play.

The veriport designer/builder/operator signed an agreement to develop the UK’s first vertiport testbed at a 444-acre estate in Bicester Motion, Oxfordshire.  

The new vertiport, which will include a compact 1,700 sq ft passenger terminal, will be a critical facility for testing ground infrastructure and flight operations.

Timeframe for having the vertiport online is end of 2024.

Vertical Aerospace, the leader in the UK eVTOL race should be happy to hear that. They plan to use the space to conduct demonstration flights and test key procedures ahead of commercial launch. 

Founder Spotlight

Joby Founder, JoeBen Bevirt

If you’re building a new form of electric aerial transportation, you’re not built like the rest of us.

Joby Founder and CEO, JoeBen Bevirt, is exactly that - a different breed.

Just take a look at these stats:

• His name was inspired by a character in Sometimes a Great Notion, a 1964 American classic written by family friend Ken Kesey, who treated him like a godson. 

• (Fun Fact - Key Kasey also wrote One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which was later turned into a cult classic film staring Jack Nicholson). 

• Raised in an off-the-grid community outside of Santa Cruz California called ‘Last Chance.’ It’s a grow your own food type of place.

• Attended UC Davis and then Grad school for Mechanical Engineering at Stanford (because of course Stanford).  

• Holds 160 US Patents in aerodynamics, aircraft design, electric and hydrogen propulsion.

• Founded a company called Velocity11 which developed robotic laboratory systems for life sciences discovery and sold it to Agilent Technologies.

• Invented these things:

• (They're called Gorillapods)

• Founded Joby Aviation in 2009 with a small group that worked out of “the barn” - a makeshift office tucked away in the Santa Cruz mountains. 

• During COVID, Joby employees moved onto his property outside Santa Cruz and were living and working alongside each other.

This is the kind of man Venture Capitalists salivate over. 

Just ask Reid Hasting, Founder of LinkedIn, Mark Pinus founder of Zynga, who are big investors in Joby.

The Markets

Or “The Casino” if you prefer the Wall Street Bets mentality…

A lot of red on the chart. But aside from Vertical Aerospace on a downtrend this week, not a lot of movement across the sector.

The Life Savings Bet

As you may or may not know, I am all in on Joby. $100K worth of chips all riding on that bet to be exact.

Does that mean Above Traffic is a biased news source? 

It means we passionately cover the industry and the outcomes matter. A lot.

So are we in the money?!

No… still down a few bucks. What’s the famous quote about getting comfortable being uncomfortable? I need to re-read that right about now…

Lighten Up

Final Question

When you get on an eVTOL one day - are you talking to other passengers you don’t know? Or headphones in and no eye contact? — best reply gets a shoutout next week.

Best Answer From Last Week

I asked “What airline should eVTOL companies try to replicate for customer experience?”

Best reply came from Nick in NSW, Australia: “I fly Scoot Airlines so eVTOLs should do the opposite of everything they do. I reckon it’s like Spirit in the States - absolute shit.”

Thanks for reading and let us know what you want to see more of next week. We read every single reply.

Stay above.

— The Above Traffic Team