He's Heating Up

Welcome to Go Above Traffic.

Bringing you more eVTOL gossip than a high school girl at a Homecoming. Except it’s actually useful stuff.

Here we go:

What you need to know in eVTOLs this week

Joby Aviation

Joby completed the world’s first liquid hydrogen powered eVTOL flight.

And they didn’t half-ass it.

They took an existing eVTOL aircraft, fitted it with a liquid hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen-electric propulsion system and flew it 523 miles.

The hydrogen aircrafts will use 90% of the systems and components in their current aircraft and they can use the same vertiports, pilots mechanics and operating system.

“This is a landmark moment for aviation. If you want to travel long distances, or you want to stay in the air for long periods of time, hydrogen-electric is a game changer…

Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore or Nashville to New Orleans without the need to go to an airport and with no emissions except water."

JoeBen Bevirt, Founder & CEO, Joby

It’s not all candy canes and rainbows. Not obtaining enough sustainably sourced liquid hydrogen has killed would be competitors in the past.

Eve Air Mobility

Last week Eve snagged a $94M investment.

This week they’ve added another $20 million.

The cash is coming from Nidec Aerospace, the maker of its electric propulsion system.

Nidec plans to expand into industrial unmanned drones, next-generation hybrid aircraft and future electric aircraft. 

There is no such things as too much money when it comes to eVTOLs.

Even in the best case scenario, Eve and others are years away from generating revenue, let along profit. A massive war chest is critical if you expect to have a real shot at commercialization.

Volocopter

Volocopter dodged bankruptcy a few months ago and is now limping into the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The original plan for a high profile showcase of 10 eVTOLs ferrying paying passengers around the city has been scrapped.

As of now, the plan is for demonstration flights not available to regular us regular folks.

A temporary barge on the river Seine will be the staging platform for the eVTOL flights. But don’t expect to see a lot of activity in the skies - flights will be limited to two per hour.

The luddites running the local Parisian government aren’t making things easy on Volocopter.

In November 2023, Members of the Conseil de Paris unanimously rejected the flights as “absurd” and an “ecological aberration.” Deputy Mayor Dan Lert dismissing the proposals as “a totally useless, hyper-polluting gimmick for a few ultra-privileged people in a hurry.”

NASA

Researchers at NASA are lending a helping hand to the eVTOL industry,

They will conduct a series of human subject research studies with the aim of helping make air taxi comfortable for passengers.

Test pilot Wayne Ringelberg (pictured above), recently completed a series of test rides in the new simulator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

“The experiments in the ride quality lab will inform the advanced air mobility community about the acceptability of the motions these aircraft could make, so the general public is more likely to adopt the new technology.” said Ringelberg.

Vertical Aerospace

The United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted Vertical Aerospace an expanded scope of design approval.

The scope extension enables Vertical’s own engineers to sign off compliance of an increasing number of technical areas, including areas related to the flight control, avionics and electrical systems.

It also shows further confidence from the CAA that Vertical has the in-house capability to obtain certification for the VX4 aircraft to the highest aviation safety standards, with safety targets the same as those that large commercial airliners adhere to.

Still a long way to commercialization, but this is a key milestone to check off.

The Markets

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

More green on the week over week chart than we’ve seen all year.

There hasn’t been a single week where everything we’re tracking has been positive across the board.

Yesterday’s record setting day for S&P 500 obviously lifted this niche but we’ll take the positive momentum.

The $100K Life Savings Bet

“Risk more than others think is safe.”

- Howard Schultz

Ever heard of a little company called Starbucks?

Howard Shultz is the reason they have 38,000+ locations and do billions of dollars of revenue every year.

He did three separate stints running the company (1986-2000, 2008-2017, 2022-2023) and knows what he’s talking about.

I am happily following his advice and risking my $100K life savings, which is certainly more than others think is safe, on Joby.

So are we in the money?!

Yes. We are in the money.

Joby shot up 18% yesterday on the news about using hydrogen as a fuel source for longer flights.

We are sitting at a healthy $118K.

But let’s not counting chickens before they hatch. We have a long way to go until commercialization so it’s business as usual knowing there could easily be a pull back.

Lighten Up

Family Guys gets it.

Final Question

When it comes to eVTOLs - what will be the difference between high end experience and budget rides?

— best reply gets a shoutout next week.

Best Answer From Last Week

I asked “Can you name one helicopter company without googling it?”

Best reply came from Nick in Crested Butte, Colorado:

“Westpac Rescue Helicopter.”

Great answer because it shows how vague the term ‘helicopter company’ can be.

There are helicopter operators, manufactures, servicer providers etc. and they all have different business models.

The same will be true for eVTOLs. Some will make money from selling physical aircraft, others from charging passengers for rides, and some operating those aircraft for tourism, medevac etc.

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