WORLD-FIRST ELECTRIC VERTICAL TAKE-OFF AND LANDING SITE COULD BE IN COVENTRY

Coventry could become home to the world’s first electric Vertical Take-O and Landing (eVTOL) site after the company behind the project secured a £1.2 million grant from UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge.

Factory closures and a failure to invest gave Coventry a bleak “ghost town” feel, painfully expressed by its most famous musical export, The Specials.

Fast forward 50 years and the city is in a renaissance. With a population of more than 400,000, Coventry has diversified into new sectors.

The region is a major UK centre of aerospace and advanced manufacturing in automotive, rail and motorsport and is the UK’s centre for low carbon powertrain and other low carbon technologies. In December, Coventry was named the best UK town for electric cars.

Last month’s news that Coventry City Council is to work with Coventry Airport Ltd to develop proposals for a gigafactory at the airport has been welcomed. The partners plan to develop proposals and submit an outline planning application for a gigafactory this year. This will take place alongside discussions with battery suppliers and automotive manufacturers to secure the long-term investment needed.

Urban-Air Port has partnered with Hyundai Motor Group and Coventry City Council to launch Air-One in Coventry to demonstrate the potential of urban air mobility to the UK and worldwide.

Air-One plans to be a world-first fully-operational hub for eVTOL aircraft such as cargo drones and air taxis, and plans to launch in the city later this year.

If all goes well, Urban-Air Port plans to install more than 200 zero emission sites worldwide over the next five years in response to global demand.

The company chose Coventry for the first site due to its central UK location and because it is a historic hub for the automobile and aerospace industry, with a pool of people and skills that can support the manufacturing industries of the future.

The plan is to unveil Air-One during Coventry’s UK City of Culture celebrations and continue to form part of the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

Councillor Jim O’Boyle, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, said: “We are already a city that is helping to shape the future of electric transport and this is yet another ground-breaking project that puts Coventry at the forefront of new technologies.”

Ricky Sandhu, founder and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port, said: “Air Port will improve connectivity across our cities, boost productivity and help the UK to take the lead in a whole new clean global economy. Air-One will bring clean urban air transport to the masses and unleash a new airborne world of zero emission mobility.”

The physical footprint of an Urban-Air Port is 60 per cent smaller than a traditional heliport (the most comparable existing infrastructure).

Using innovative construction, the sites can be installed in a matter of days, emit net zero carbon emissions and can be operated completely o -grid, meaning they do not always have to rely on a suitable grid connection.

Urban-Air Port will use large cargo drones developed by Berkshire-based drone developer, logistics and engineering company Malloy Aeronautics.