THE RISE OF eVTOLs

One of the many things that springs to mind when people think of Los Angeles is freeways crammed with traffic. By 2028 that will change. According to Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority Olympics Task Force Director Kasey Shuda, changing LA’s car culture is “the only way we will survive the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

As well as major investments in light rail and LA’s Metro system, one of the ways that traffic will be taken off the roads is via eVTOLs, or electric take-off and landing vehicles.

The eVTOL market is expected to be worth $1.75 billion by 2028, with a number of eVTOL companies focused on the greater LA region, including Archer, Joby, Wisk and the German company Volocopter.

There are a number of reasons for LA becoming a “battleground for eVTOLs”; not only is it a large urban region, but Los

Angeles also has an existing infrastructure of helicopter landing points. It also has a lot of parking lots and space on top of tall buildings that could be used for these so-called Vertiports that would allow such aircraft to land and take off. Volocopter, in fact, intends to fly its two-seater Volocity eVTOL as early as the 2024 Paris Olympics, but this will almost certainly be used only for demonstration and select media flights.

By 2028, the Volocopter VoloRegion, which can take four passengers and one pilot, should be in the air. The VoloRegion will then join other four-seat eVTOLs, such as Archer’s Midnight aircraft and the first eVTOLs from Joby and from (Hyundaiowned) Supernal over the LA skies.

Archer, in particular, is already scoping out a Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Hollywood route on behalf of investor and partner United Airlines. Meanwhile, Joby has Delta on board as an investor and so is likely to offer transfers to and from Delta’s LAX hub.

As a result, LA2028 is set to become the eVTOL games.

With the event having a global TV audience of billions, people around the world will see these new aircraft transporting passengers – including journalists who will tell viewers

Source: Volocopter and readers about the experience, often even live-streaming it – making the concept seem much more familiar, yet also aspirational and exciting. It could become the trigger to make eVTOL use more desirable on a wider scale.

The picture painted by Archer Founder and CEO Adam Goldstein in his Sustainability in the Air podcast interview is of a future where aircraft like Archer’s Midnight eVTOL operate like “air gondolas” where a steady stream of air taxis transport passengers between airports and cities and within urban areas – you just turn up and get on the next one.

This democratisation of eVTOLs will also be driven by pricing. The expectation is that, eventually, prices will be as competitive as ride-sharing services, especially as advances in battery technology further reduce costs.