Volocopter, a startup of the flying taxis sector, makes a $ 55 million round led by Geely, Volvo's parent

The German start-up of air taxi Volocopter raised € 50 million ($ 55.3 million) thanks to a round of financing led by Geely, the Chinese parent company of Volvo Cars, announced the company. The new funds will be dedicated to achieving Volocopter's goal of launching a commercial air taxi service powered by its 18-rotor electric plane "in the next three years".

In addition to conducting this Series C financing transaction, Geely will also create a joint venture with Volocopter to bring the start-up device to China. Volocopter performed a handful of public demonstrations of its eVTOL aircraft (vertical takeoff and landing electric), most recently at Helsinki Airport.

Geely is not the only big company (or automaker) to be interested in Volocopter. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has invested $ 30 million in 2017. Shortly after, Intel announced that it would provide technical support to the German start-up.

Volocopter's ability to attract the attention and touch the money of so many daring names is remarkable because electric flight is extremely difficult to achieve – some would say even impossible in a commercial sense. Flying requires an incredible amount of energy and the current battery technology simply does not offer the weight / power ratio needed for a successful take-off. Most experts predict that it will take years, if not decades, before battery technology can catch up.

It is probably for this reason that Volocopter plans to operate its aircraft only over short distances. Its 2X prototype – the 18-rotor one – offers a 30-minute flight time and a maximum range of 27 km (although Volocopter says the batteries can be swapped quickly to compensate for these numbers until improvement). of technology.)

Last month, Volocopter unveiled VoloCity, the company's fourth-generation eVTOL aircraft. The VoloCity has slightly better features than the 2X, with an estimated range of 35 km (about 22 miles) and a speed of 110 km / h (or about 68 mph). The company is considering a "Volo-ports" rooftop network where more than 1,000 passengers could board and disembark their own "flying cab" every hour. That translates to 10,000 passengers per station per day, says the company.

With the last secure round, Volocopter said he raised € 85 million ($ 94 million) so far. The company has announced it is in talks with investors in view of closing a fourth cycle by the end of the year.