Electric air taxis: air sovereignty or castle in the air

Electric air taxis are a vision full of imagination. But some experts fear that billions of dollars will be burned instead of the revolution in the sky. None have an aviation license yet.

Shey are the vision in the sky: electric air taxis that will take off or land in inner cities in the near future and bring their passengers to their destinations safely, quietly, inexpensively and CO2-neutrally. It all sounds wonderful in the advertising promises of the start-ups. However, the shortcoming of the “Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft”, eVTOL for short, cannot be explained away. All air taxi projects under the umbrella term Urban Air Mobility, i.e. air traffic in urban areas, have not yet been approved and can therefore not be used commercially. Currently, many eVTOLs, if at all, only fly remotely in test operations and sometimes far from the promised flight performance, especially in terms of range. Some fly with a pilot and passenger on demo flights. But mostly only a few minutes.

As different as the concepts may be, what they all have in common is that they take off and land vertically, like in a helicopter, and that a professional pilot is at the controls. The operation should take place at competitive costs. Conventional helicopters are therefore not seen as competition, but rather taxis on the street. This calls out skeptics. In the Volocopter, for example, a professional pilot is needed to transport a passenger in the aircraft called Volo City. And the American competitor Joby or the German competitor Lilium from Oberpfaffenhofen also need a professional pilot for four to six passengers.