A FLYING “air taxi” has flown a record 523 miles – despite being powered solely by hydrogen and electricity.
The innovative Joby Aviation aircraft could reduce the hour-long journey from New York’s JFK Airport to Manhattan to just seven minutes.
However, this latest mammoth flight took place in California, where it landed with 10% of its hydrogen fuel load to spare.
And thanks to its unique environmentally friendly fuel system, the only direct byproduct of the flight was water.
Joby’s “air taxi” is a hydrogen-electric aircraft, the first of its kind, that takes off and lands vertically.
“Air travel is critical to human progress, but we need to find ways to make it cleaner,” said Joby founder and chief JoeBen Bevirt.
“With our battery-electric air taxi set to fundamentally change the way we move through cities, we are excited to now build a technology stack that could redefine regional travel using hydrogen-electric aircraft.
Joby previously tested an all-electric version of the craft during a much shorter trip around New York City in late 2023.
And Joby said his air taxis would be able to cut the trip from Manhattan to JFK to seven minutes — compared to the hour it might take a car.
The company also added that the air taxi could cover “99% of all trips taken today in the five boroughs of New York City.”
This particular ship was only capable of traveling 100 miles on a single charge.
But the new hydrogen electric model can fly much further.
“Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without needing to go to an airport and with no emissions except water,” Bevirt explained.
“That world is closer than ever, and the progress we’ve made in certifying the battery-electric version of our aircraft gives us a huge advantage as we look to the future to make hydrogen-electric flight a reality.”
The new hydrogen-electric model uses the same fuselage and design as Joby’s regular battery-powered aircraft.
But it includes a Joby-designed liquid hydrogen fuel tank that can store up to 40 kilograms of liquid hydrogen.
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This means it only needs to charge a “reduced mass of batteries”.
“The hydrogen is fed into a fuel cell system, designed and built by H2FLY, to produce electricity, water and heat,” explained Joby.
“Electricity produced by the hydrogen fuel cell powers the Joby aircraft’s six electric motors, with the batteries providing additional power primarily during takeoff and landing.”
Joby’s aircraft can carry a single pilot plus four passengers.
The global race for flying taxis
The global race for flying taxis, or urban air mobility (UAM), is highly competitive, with numerous companies developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and related technologies.
Competition is driving rapid advances in this field, with many of these players looking to launch commercial operations in the coming years.
In addition to Wisk Aero, here are some of the prominent players in this space:
JOBY AVIATION – Santa Cruz, California, USA: Joby Aviation is one of the leading companies in the eVTOL space. It received significant investment from Toyota and partnered with Uber. Joby intends to launch an air travel sharing service.
VOLOCOPTER – Bruchsal, Germany: Volocopter develops electric helicopters designed for urban air mobility. The Volocopter 2X and VoloCity are its flagship models. The company carried out test flights in several cities, including Singapore and Dubai.
LILIUM – Munich, Germany: Lilium is developing the Lilium Jet, a five-seat eVTOL aircraft. The company intends to create a regional air mobility network. Lilium has raised substantial funds and performed several successful test flights.
ARCHER AVIATION – Palo Alto, California, USA: Archer is focused on developing an all-electric air taxi. The company has a partnership with United Airlines and plans to launch commercial operations by 2024.
EHANG – Guangzhou, China: EHang develops autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) for passenger and logistics transportation. The EHang 216 is a remarkable model that has been tested in several cities around the world.
EMBRAERX (EVE AIR MOBILITY) – São José dos Campos, Brazil: Eve Air Mobility, an Embraer subsidiary, is developing eVTOL aircraft and urban air traffic management solutions. The company intends to leverage Embraer’s aerospace experience to promote UAM.
HYUNDAI URBAN AIR MOBILITY (SUPERNAL) – South Korea / USA: Hyundai is actively developing eVTOL aircraft through its Supernal division. The company plans to integrate air taxis into urban transport networks.
BELL TEXTRON – Fort Worth, Texas, USA: Bell is developing the Nexus 4EX, an eVTOL aircraft designed for urban air mobility. Bell has a long history of manufacturing helicopters and intends to apply that experience to the UAM sector.
It’s supposedly as “quiet as a conversation” and reaches top speeds of 200 mph.
Joby hopes to get full approval to fly from the US FAA to launch an “air ridesharing service” – like Uber, but in sky.
You would book flights through an app to avoid normal road traffic.
And Joby’s boss says the company’s efforts to win approval for the regular electric air taxi will also help boost the hydrogen model’s progress.
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“The vast majority of the design, testing and certification work we complete on our battery-electric aircraft carries over to the commercialization of hydrogen-electric flight.
“In service, we also expect to be able to use the same landing pads, the same operations team and Joby’s ElevateOS software that will support the commercial operation of our battery-electric aircraft.”
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