In an interview with Defensehere.com, Jean Christophe Drai, Commercial Lead France of Volocopter, discussed the company's full electric air taxi, Volocity.
Today, witnessing more energy-efficient air transportation companies and their eVTOL is more convenient. In particular, the European companies lead this phenomenon, the Volocopter is among one of them.
With more than 500 employees and more than 1500 test flight, Volocopter is the one of urban air mobility (UAM), an emerging branch of fully electric aviation. The company's aspiration to make the dream of electric flight come true has resulted in a trio of aircraft. The air taxis, cargo drones, and longer-range passenger aircraft aims to offer alternative, affordable transit solutions – emission-free and sustainable and efficient flight.
For more than 10 years, the company has been enhancing the initial prototype to build a sophisticated ecosystem that will complement the air taxis, thus opening up a whole new perspective on and for the city. By offering all-electric flights over megacities across the globe, it aims to make more room on the streets, thus relieving congestion, pollution, and other big-city hassles.
"Volocopter is a German based company. We have been created 12 years ago. Now from the start with yoga ball for flying and it was so amazing to have a look on YouTube about yoga ball from Volocopter." he revealed. "We are in Le Bourget Paris Air Show with flying aircraft during the flight display and with this nice mockup which will be the certified aircraft flying in Paris next year."
Regarding the target market of the company, he said that "We are looking worldwide for sure. We are working with some Middle East countries and mainly with Neom (Saudi Arabia project for new city), looking at this new skyline which will be built in the desert. Because it makes sense to have this kind of stuff. And in Europe, we are looking for the world or European countries, but the first one will be France, because we are targeting to start our ups in 2024 in Paris with five roads. And then we will gain experience and we are looking to UK, we are looking to Türkiye for sure. We are looking everywhere. I mean, it's kind of new way of transportation for big metropoles. So, if you have congestion, if you have airports, if you need sanitary services or emergencies services, we can be everywhere."
"The second gen aircraft will be a three passenger, one pilot"
Regarding the Volocity's passenger capacity, he stressed that "On the start, it will be one pilot, one passenger. We are looking for a second generation of aircraft that will be a three passenger, one pilot. This is a minimum viable product for the start. The maximum takeoff weight is 950 kilogram."
"We keep it very easy and simple"
"We look for very simple and easy to self-defined products. So, you can see you are spinning rotor value add. So, we do not have any moving parts, we are spinning or whatever. We kept very easy and simple. Why? Because we are going to EASA, which is the European Safety Agency for the air. If we want to be certified and we need to keep super easy. The main difference that we will be the first to fly in 2024 with a certified aircraft at least for one or two year." he highlighted.
"More than 1500 test with Volocity"
Regarding the flying display of Volocity at the 54th Paris Air Show, he revealed that "The one which is flying the flight display is a test machine which he has flown the several hours of flight. The test machine performs more than 1500 test, not hour. And for instance, you can consider it's about between 15 to 100 hour flight per test."
"Looking at all this people at Le Bourget, they are super enthusiastic about we are flying in Paris next year. So, what we would like to see next year is what will be the public reaction." as he define people's reaction to the aircraft. "And looking at price, we are thinking about a way how we can make it affordable for everyone. We want to gain experience. We want to get the feedback from the public. We want more as we can people inside the aircraft."
"Volocity will be super safe"
On the certification process, he stressed that "It's a long process for us to be certified and to fly in Paris. But, now everything is green. We are on track. It will be super safe. We are super happy to be there in Le Bourget Air Show one year before starting our commercial flights."
Regarding the electric transmission and the batteries of the aircraft, he said that "It's fully electric. So as you can see, there is something which is open on the back. There is nine batteries back. Once we are landing, we swap the batteries so we can put nine new one and then starting flying. So, exactly the concept of a taxi, very quick turnover on the ground and then we can start the flight one more time. So it's completely green during the flight zero emission. For sure, we are looking for providers with green energy needs for the charging station. We are also looking at battery or cycling and all this stuff because we want to be sustainable for the future.
"With a full battery is the autonomy 20 kilometer on the start and with the second generation of aircraft, it will be 35 to 40." he concluded.
