Photo: Eve Air Mobility
There are times when we are flooded with news from the field of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, followed by long periods of silence. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the times we get to hear stuff coincide with some major air show taking place. And guess what: one is ongoing as we speak.
July 22 is when this year's Farnborough Airshow opens its doors in Farnborough, Hampshire, the UK, so we expect the next few days to be filled with news from the aviation industry. And what better way to get things going that with something about an eVTOL that's been a long time coming, but it's not here yet?
The aircraft doesn't have a name of its own yet, but because it is made by a company called Eve Air Mobility, we'll refer to it simply as Eve. Talk about it has been floating around since 2020, when Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer established the Eve subsidiary to build eVTOLs, and with them the future.
Powered entirely by electricity, the piloted vehicle will be capable of flying for as much as 60 miles (100 km) on a single charge, loaded with the pilot and four passengers. In autonomous configuration, because it will also come as such a thing, it will be able to carry as many as six people at a time.
The aircraft will rely on eight dedicated propellers to help it take flight vertically, and a pusher propeller to help it move forward. This configuration lets the helicopter-styled, fixed-wing machine achieve both vertical and horizontal flight with no change in position of the wings or propellers.
All of that sounds pretty great, but until now they were only letters and numbers of a screen. At the Farnborough Airshow, however, Eve unveiled its first full-scale eVTOL prototype, which will be put through its paces during a comprehensive testing campaign that will begin at a later date.
When I say unveiled I mean that Eve showed us the first images of the eVTOL and a version of it on the runway, as the prototype is still in the process of being built at the facility Embraer operates in Gaviao Peixoto, Sao Paulo State, Brazil.
When ready, the aircraft will be put through its paces to test all aspects of the project, from flight capabilities to safety features.
Although the eVTOL does not yet exist in a usable form yet, Eve says it already has some 2,900 letters of intent for the machine, including from industry giants like United Airlines (the airline ordered 200 EVs, with the option to buy 200 more), valued at a combined $8 billion.
The company is also working with others to advance its goals, including with Porsche Consulting to define the eVTOL supply chain, global manufacturing and logistics macro strategy, and a company Blade Air Mobility that helped it conduct simulations in American cities.
The aircraft doesn't have a name of its own yet, but because it is made by a company called Eve Air Mobility, we'll refer to it simply as Eve. Talk about it has been floating around since 2020, when Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer established the Eve subsidiary to build eVTOLs, and with them the future.
Powered entirely by electricity, the piloted vehicle will be capable of flying for as much as 60 miles (100 km) on a single charge, loaded with the pilot and four passengers. In autonomous configuration, because it will also come as such a thing, it will be able to carry as many as six people at a time.
The aircraft will rely on eight dedicated propellers to help it take flight vertically, and a pusher propeller to help it move forward. This configuration lets the helicopter-styled, fixed-wing machine achieve both vertical and horizontal flight with no change in position of the wings or propellers.
All of that sounds pretty great, but until now they were only letters and numbers of a screen. At the Farnborough Airshow, however, Eve unveiled its first full-scale eVTOL prototype, which will be put through its paces during a comprehensive testing campaign that will begin at a later date.
When I say unveiled I mean that Eve showed us the first images of the eVTOL and a version of it on the runway, as the prototype is still in the process of being built at the facility Embraer operates in Gaviao Peixoto, Sao Paulo State, Brazil.
When ready, the aircraft will be put through its paces to test all aspects of the project, from flight capabilities to safety features.
Although the eVTOL does not yet exist in a usable form yet, Eve says it already has some 2,900 letters of intent for the machine, including from industry giants like United Airlines (the airline ordered 200 EVs, with the option to buy 200 more), valued at a combined $8 billion.
The company is also working with others to advance its goals, including with Porsche Consulting to define the eVTOL supply chain, global manufacturing and logistics macro strategy, and a company Blade Air Mobility that helped it conduct simulations in American cities.
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