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Joby Aviation, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., Completed the longest test flight of an eVTOL to date, as its unnamed full-size aircraft prototype concluded a trip of more than 150 miles with a single charge, the company said on Monday.
The test was completed at Joby’s Electric Flight Base in Big Sur, Calif., Earlier this month. This is the latest in a succession of secret tests conducted by the company, all of which are part of its goal of obtaining certification with the Federal Aviation Administration and starting commercial operations.
The prototype spent over an hour and 17 minutes in the air and covered 154.6 statute miles on a single battery charge, traveling along a pre-set circuit. While the test flight was remotely piloted by Joby’s chief test pilot, Justin Paines, the company plans to have pilots on the plane when it opens its carpooling service for customers.
Image credits: Joby Aviation (Opens in a new window)
Led by JoeBen Bevirt, Joby Aviation has spent the past twelve years designing eVTOL – a vertical take-off and landing electric barge that climbs like a helicopter but flies like an airplane, and is much quieter than both.
Joby is one of a series of startups looking to make electric air travel a reality for the average American. The company’s website features a handy graph showing a proposed trip from Los Angeles Airport to Newport Beach – over an hour and 44 miles by car, but only 15 minutes and 35 miles with Joby. Joby aims to make those trips a reality by 2024, and tests like these are a major sign to the public, investors and regulators that he is on track to meet that schedule.
Significantly, the company uses commercially available lithium-ion batteries suitable for air travel. This test flight is therefore also proof that its battery technology is up to the challenge. It’s a tricky challenge: the battery needs to have enough energy density to travel around 150 miles while still having enough power to take off and land vertically. But Joby says he found a specific combination of cathode and graphite anode to achieve those goals.
In addition to being one of the oldest developers of eVTOL, Joby is also the best funded, raising nearly $ 800 million in funding to date. This includes a $ 75 million investment from Uber after Joby bought its air taxi business, Elevate, and a $ 400 million investment from Toyota Motor Corp. Joby will go public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Reinvent Technology Partners, a business combination that will inject the startup with additional capital of $ 1.6 billion.
That’s a lot of money, but designing and marketing a new aircraft is an expensive endeavor: by some estimates it costs up to $ 1 billion in total.
“We achieved something that many thought was impossible with today’s battery technology,” Bevirt said in a statement. “In doing so, we took the first step toward making convenient, emissions-free air travel between places like San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, Houston and Austin, or Los Angeles and San Diego, a daily reality.”
Watch a video of the test flight here:
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