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Up Above the World So High
Like A Diamond In The Sky
It’s Friday morning so you know what that means - eVTOL time!
What you need to know in eVTOLs this week
Eve Air Mobility
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the country’s sole military aircraft manufacturer, signed a $723 million deal to sell parts to eVTOL aircraft to Eve Air Mobility.
It’s a big chunk of change for Eve to spend, but as a subsidiary of Embraer S.A., the third largest producer of civil aircraft after Boeing and Airbus, it’s safe to assume they have deep pockets.
So what parts are worth $723 million dollars? Pylons. They are a critical part of the airframe that support the electric power units and propellers.
Jetson
Visualizing wake turbulence behind the Jetson ONE
Sweden’s answer to the single person eVTOL is the Jetson One and its now on the market. Listed at $128,000, they claim to be the first affordable eVTOL. It’s about one third of the cost of China based EHang’s two person aircraft so their claim may be right.
No pilot license required in the US. But the estimated delivery date is 2026 so you have some time to decide if you trust yourself to captain this bird.
Lilium
Rendering of Lilium's eVTOL, the Lilum Jet
Germany based Lilium N.V. has selected Aernnova, a leading aerospace component manufacturer, to collaborate on the Lilium Jet’s propulsion mounting system.
Why is that interesting?
Because Lilium isn’t looking to offer short jumps over traffic. They’ve got their eye on regional flights. The Jet Propulsion mounting system is one of the major components needed to accomplish that.
“Most of our peers are using propellers. These propellers have the advantage that they’re a bit simpler to design and they need less power in take-off and landing, but they’re less efficient in the cruise flight,” said Daniel Wiegand, a Lilium co-founder.
“We are focused on regional flights. We have picked the jet technology because it yields longer range.”
Wisk Aero
Originally formed in 2019 as a partnership between Boeing and Google co-founder Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk aircraft company, Wisk Aero is on the 6th version of their 4-seater eVTOL.
So what are they doing differently than competitors?
Skipping the whole pilot thing.
Brian Yutko, CEO of Wisk, points to safety as the primary reason for having no flight controls on the aircraft and only a (human) supervisor on the ground monitoring the aircraft.
Unfortunately, the small aircraft space does not today enjoy the same safety levels as what we experience in the large aircraft space, which is incredibly, remarkably safe.
Its hard to even fathom statistics on how safe todays commercial air transporting system is. Unfortunately, the general aviation space and helicopters are not nearly as safe as that.
We believe automation and autonomy can bring dramatic improvements in safety into this space.
To be very clear, you and I aren’t going to put our families on board aircraft that we fly on for everyday flights unless it meets a similar safety outcome as what we experience in the rest of the air transportation system
We think autonomy can get you there from a safety standpoint and were really excited about that.
The Markets
Or “The Casino” if you prefer the Wall Street Bets mentality…
Not a lot of volatility this week.
The obvious takeaway is that with the exception of Ehang, all the other players are significantly down from when they went public.
The Life Savings Bet
If you haven’t heard - I’ve placed by $100K bet on Joby. Which is just about all my investible cash.
As a former Boy Scout (jk, I wasn’t a Boy Scout) I am obligated to aggregate, curate and commentate on the eVTOL industry with no bias. Just calling things how I see them.
If you think the Joby investment clouds my judgement, let me know if there is a better eVTOL company to go all in. I believe this race will producer a huge winner, just a matter of betting on the right horse.
So are we in the money?!
Down about $12K. The good news is the bleeding has stopped. We’re bumbling around what is hopefully the bottom.
Lighten Up
Final Question
What will be the biggest risk to mass market adoption of eVTOLs? — best reply gets a shoutout next week.
Best Answer From Last Week
I asked “When you get on an eVTOL one day - are you talking to other passengers? Or headphones in and no eye contact?
Best reply came from Tommy in California: “I don’t walk out my front door with out wearing Airpods. Can’t risk having that awkward forced conversation with a neighbor. So the answer is obviously no speaking to eVTOLs passengers.
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
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