Taxi! To Airport — By Air, Please.

This article is part of our series on this topic. The Future of TransportationIt explores innovations and challenges that affect how we move around the world.

It’s late afternoon in Manhattan and you have a flight to catch at Kennedy International Airport. Instead of sitting in heavy traffic for two hours, you take a short trip to a nearby parking lot, where you board an electric plane that takes off vertically from the roof and drops you off at Kennedy 20 minutes later. fantasy ridesharing You make your flight on time.

While this scenario may sound far-fetched, several companies say they are on the verge of delivering safe, inexpensive and clean electric aircraft that can help passengers travel distances between two and 150 miles without the need for a traditional runway. Public and private experts believe technology could turn into a huge market that helps alleviate congestion and transforms the way people travel in major metropolitan areas.

While city air travel is currently out of reach for most customers (think: Uber Helicopter), advances in battery technology have reduced the cost of developing electrically powered aircraft that prevail as urban passenger transport. These companies are betting that they can bring electric urban and regional air travel to the masses, and have developed new aircraft to compete for a piece of this emerging market over the next few years.

“We want to create something that is accessible to many people, that can do the job of high-speed rail without requiring infrastructure,” said Daniel Wiegand, CEO and founder. Lilium Air Mobility, based in Germany. “We won’t be at the price of a high-speed train ticket in Germany on our first day, but if we don’t get there in 15 years, I think our mission has failed.”

Manufacturers say these electric planes have numerous advantages over conventional airplanes, especially helicopters, which are expensive to maintain and fly, noisy and pose safety risks, as seen in the crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight other passengers.

The new electric aircraft uses one-fifth of the energy of conventional helicopters. Unlike conventional fixed-wing aircraft, they do not need runways for takeoff and landing. Unlike helicopters, they will be largely inaudible from the ground and will have multiple rotors and backup systems, making them safer.

CEO Adam Goldstein Archer Aviation, said his company hopes to offer fees of between three and four dollars per mile traveled. That makes the typically 17-mile journey from Manhattan to Kennedy between $50 and $80. Several experts predicted that regional flights would cost the same as luxury car service Uber Black.

“The biggest cost is batteries, which are expensive but are getting cheaper every day,” said Mr. Goldstein. (He declined to be more specific about battery supply and cost.)

Many companies, including Lilium and Archer, stood out in a crowded field for their technology and ability to raise capital. None of them is content with just producing vehicles; all aim to combine the traditional roles of aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and airlines such as Delta to both develop aircraft and provide an end-to-end service.

A few experts credited Tesla and other auto companies’ entry into the electricity market to reduce battery costs. Traditional manufacturers such as Hyundai are also increasing their investments in electric aircraft, in hopes of putting one aircraft into service by 2028.

More established players in this field, Joby Aviation and Volocopterpromises the aircraft to be in service by 2024, an ambitious goal that will largely depend on regulatory approval.

The biggest investment area is electric vehicles that take off and land vertically, such as helicopters or Harrier jets. Known as electric vertical take-off and landing or eVTOLs, these aircraft can typically seat between two and 10 passengers and travel up to 200 miles, making them ideal for crossing a metropolitan area or connecting two cities.

Mr. Wiegand of Lilium had a lightbulb moment when he watched a video of a military aircraft taking off vertically in 2014, and realized that an electric version could solve all the traditional problems of operating an aircraft in dense urban areas: eliminating noise and air pollution, as well as the need for runways. Mr. Wiegand, then still a student at the Technical University of Munich, formed a team and began developing the engine that powers his company’s seven-seat electric jet today.

He believes his company’s jet technology scales better than designs based on propellers, and argued that the additional capacity will help reduce costs to a level that middle-class consumers can afford.

Taking a different approach, Volocopter, founded in 2011 and headquartered in Munich; It currently has two vehicles in advanced development, including a “multicopter”, an 18 rotor blade helicopter called the VoloCity. The two-seater plane has a range of 22 miles, making it easier to certify than some long-range electric airplanes, and is ideal for urban travel where the vast majority of trips are between 10 and 20 miles, CEO Florian Reuter said. shaft. Volocopter is also developing a four-seat aircraft with a range of 100 miles aimed at regional travel.

“We are one of the few companies that recognizes that there are different types of vehicles for different missions and different missions,” Mr Reuter said.

Volocopter is gaining regulatory approval with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and hopes to have its aircraft operational by 2024.

jobyHeadquartered in Santa Cruz, California. The company made headlines last December when ride-sharing giant Uber handed over its urban air travel ride-sharing product, Elevate, to Joby and invested an additional $75 million in the company, signaling that the two services would be seamlessly connected.

Cities are preparing to introduce electric planes to their already overloaded transportation systems. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Urban Movement Laboratories In 2019; today the organization is focused on preparing for electric aircraft certification for public use by the FAA as early as 2025.

The FAA denied multiple interview requests, but said it was reviewing electric aircraft on a case-by-case basis.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is embracing his city’s eVTOLs as a cost-effective, eco-friendly alternative to legacy transportation methods such as buses and light rail, which are costly to build and rely on outdated technologies. He said the city is looking at parking lots, rooftops, and other possible takeoff and landing sites.

“We think one of the flaws in transportation planning and financing is rethinking yesterday’s ideas,” he said in an interview. “The sky clearly has multiple dimensions and gives you the ability to be creative.”

Mr Suarez added that he had pushed Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg to adopt urban air mobility rather than focusing on legacy modes of transport.

Sam Morrissey, executive director of Urban Movement Labs, said aircraft will likely initially be limited to existing commercial airports and flight paths, until officials determine how new takeoff and landing locations can be added without disrupting other modes of transportation. (Joby and Archer have begun certification under the rules for existing fixed-wing aircraft.)

“Our job is, if they’re coming, can we put everything in its place so that it’s not something only the rich can use,” Mr. Morrissey said.