First all-electric air taxi in NYC debuts
Ryan Clancy | January 15, 2024Forward-thinking 1950s magazines promised a bright future full of moon bases, robot butlers and flying cars. Unless conspiracy theorists are to be believed, bases on the moon are stuck in the realm of science fiction for the moment. The same can be said for machine manservants. That leaves the flying car, which is zooming out of those golden pages and into New York City as an airborne taxi service.
Taking to the Manhattan skies, the only part of the city that isn’t overcrowded, an eVTOL craft has been developed by Joby Aviation as an electric airborne ridesharing vehicle. The full acronym expands to electric Vertical Take Off and Landing. However, this isn’t the first time aircraft have worked in this manner. There are others, so the urban airspaces above city dwellers are likely to become a little more crowded over the next few years. Startups like Vertical Aerospace come to mind when talking about potential rivals, as does Uber, of course.
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Paving the way for citywide aerial mobility
Joby Aviation is building a sustainable flight model that promises low emissions and quiet flights through the city. And really, who doesn’t want sustainable transportation in a densely populated metropolitan environment as an exciting reality? New York City absolutely does. Air taxis are welcome in the Big Apple, but they must be part of the sustainability solution. That’s the net-zero emissions promise New Yorkers have taken upon themselves.
For the moment, expect the Joby Aviation air taxi to limit its trips between Manhattan and airports. That’s a round trip distance of just over 30 miles between lower Manhattan and JFK Airport. The eVTOL craft has an electrically charged range of 100 miles, so it won’t be gasping for juice when it arrives at its destination, ready to convey passengers to and from the urban air terminals. If weight is a concern, forget about it. With a load capacity of 1,000 pounds, it can comfortably carry four passengers.
JoeBen Bevirt, the visionary CEO of Joby Aviation, states that it still has a few speed bumps to get past. How will the citizens of Manhattan react to seeing their airspace invaded by air taxis? No doubt, they’re already tired of the crowded streets. Who knows, maybe they like looking up from street level and seeing clear skies above. That’s not going to be possible for much longer. Will they be noisy, zipping past loft apartments and bustling offices? Supposedly, eVTOL taxis are several decibels quieter than helicopters, so they have that in their favor.
The FAA may temporarily ground the service
One of the bigger roadblocks to adopting air taxis in cities is the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA refers to air taxis under an umbrella name: Advanced Air Mobility vehicles, or AAMs. Requiring registration before they can legally fly and carry passengers, AAMs must be airworthy, safe to ride in and equipped with proper arrival/departure terminals. Looking at this latter requirement, real estate is a precious commodity in New York City, although there is one benefit to be found in this area: air taxis can land on rooftops, and Manhattan is full of skyscrapers. This is a mere supposition, but what if the city skyline became home to the evolving sky taxi scene?
One other thing of note would be the cost. This isn’t going to be like taking a regular Uber to JFK Airport, nor will it be like taking an ordinary taxi. On the contrary, expect high roller types to take eVTOL vehicles because they’re expensive novelties, at least at first. After they’ve been around for a few years, maybe then the average citizen will be able to afford to fly over the streets of the city toward their airport terminal.
Also, and maybe this is nitpicking, not everyone wants to go to the airport. At a fixed range of 100 miles, Atlantic City is too far away, but New Jersey is in range. The Hamptons might just be a smidge too far away as well. At the very least, a recharge will be needed at each of these destinations.
Is this the skyline revolution?
The people below the tiny aerial vehicles might balk at the possibility, but the genie has flown out of the bottle. Startups are building their own airport-to-city flying runabouts, and they’re going to eventually be certified by the FAA and any other federal or city authority, too. The city streets are already shoulder-to-shoulder, and there’s an air of inevitability (pun intended) above those shoulders, too, with airport-bound flying vehicles invading the airspace, likely from 2025 onwards.
On the one hand, the service is emission-free and quiet, much better than a noisy, gas-guzzling helicopter. Still, these things could multiply very quickly, and do people want that to happen? Does progress really have to equal overcrowding? As the eVTOL takes its inaugural trips between Manhattan and airports, the prospect of soaring over the cityscape becomes tantalizing, but that only applies to those with a fat wallet, not to the average citizen, which keeps the number of air taxis down, again, at least for the moment. Expect costs to mirror something like an Uber Black ride, which isn’t cheap by any definition of the word.