Swadheeka Pradhan
Samriddhi Singh Mahar
Eve Air Mobility, a Brazilian-based start-up owned by Embraer has entered the air taxi market by presenting a full-scale eVTOL aircraft at the 45 TH Farnborough Air Show UK.
Founded in Melbourne, Florida, Eve also unveiled an extra $94 million in capital, to its initial $492 million, therefore providing for its research, development, and production to advance up to 2027.
The aircraft itself is battery-operated and has two motors, and eight fans for vertical movement, besides fixed wings for horizontal movement. At first, the full details of the first model will be tested by remote control; passengers will not be allowed to travel on it yet.
The last feature to be perfected is; to be able to carry four passengers and a pilot a distance of 60 miles (100 km) making it suitable for short urban hops.
In general information, the exact numbers considered for speed and flight time are never revealed. Eve expects its first actual flight test for the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft to occur by the end of this year or early next year to test the safety of the model further.
These modes include hover, transition, and cruise; hence, remote piloting will be used to confirm the validity of the technology. When a manually operated flight is possible, Diehl Aviation will be in charge of creating the materials and design of the interior plane for potential services like air transport, the delivery of goods, and medical necessities.
In addition to the latter, Eve has identified its main suppliers of the prototype, which targets Europe. Diehl Aviation will be responsible for interior design and manufacturing and ASE will be responsible for the Power Distribution System (PDS) which includes high and low voltage.
Similar to the auto flight Prosperity, the aircraft design shall be equipped with eight vertical flight propellers and one rear pusher propeller for a forward cruise with a U-shape empennage for stability.
Eve operates as a subsidiary of Embraer, which has been involved in the manufacturing of aircraft for the last 55 years, thus, placing Eve at a favourable place regarding the tests and certifications that are expected to roll out in the near future. Eve applied for certification in 2022 and aspires to obtain ANAC’s blessing by 2026 at the latest.
The company aims to create 5 conforming models by the next year to help in the certification.
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Competitors have blocked access to Eve’s mobile site so fiercely that they have lost potential orders. The company has, however, won about 3000 likely orders from clients such as United, Global Crossing and Azorra.
The initial craft production capacity of the company’s first production facility in Taubaté, São Paulo, Brazil is up to 480 crafts with the possibility for expansions. The first conforming article is expected to be produced at the Embraer site in São José dos Campos by the last quarter of the calendar year 2024. According to the manufacturer’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings report released in March, they have an order pipeline of 2,850 aircraft, with the total value of nonbinding orders surpassing $8 billion.
Eve expects to have five full-scale demonstrators flying by the first quarter of 2026. As for the market, expectations for Eve are high: 30 potential operators have voiced their intention to start business worldwide.
These customers will be supported by service centres in 12 sites in eight nations after the manufacturer signed 16 clients for its Vector urban air traffic management system.
During the Farnborough Airshow, Eve said it has assembled the full list of its key suppliers, which include Diehl Aviation for cabin interiors, and ASE for power distribution systems.
A recent video demonstrated the first full-scale actualisation test at the Gaviao Peixoto site in Brazil. Having received money at least through 2027, Eve should be ready to start delivering its four-seated eVTOL by 2026.
Luiz Valentini, CTO, also identified the task of beginning the flight tests this year as a concern. The team’s hard work has been acknowledged by CEO Johann Bordais who added that the accomplishment was proof that Eve is the ‘’safety, accessible, and innovative” company.
To ensure shared objectives, he accentuated that developing an ecosystem for AAM was a top-end goal. This is always the case where there are many orders in the pipeline, before the buyers can own the flying taxis, it could take some time.
