In the first of a new, monthly series of talks being held inside the amazing Museum of Flying at Santa Monica Airport, the SVP of Marketing for Archer Aviation, Miles Rogers, spoke to a gathered crowd about the topic on the tip of every propellerhead’s tongue, the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) “air taxi.”
Following the announcement only a month ago that Archer Aviation was partnering with Atlantic Aviation to begin the development of electric aircraft infrastructure at Atlantic’s existing assets — including Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) — a great deal of interest has been expressed by both aviation aficionados and curious residents alike.
“It’s becoming tougher and tougher to get around. The more I talk to people, the more they tell me [how] they’ve just sat in traffic for hours … One of the big visions for our company is really unlocking the skies for everyone and giving them their time back,” Rogers said. “Imagine that two hour drive or that 90 minute drive is now seven or eight minutes on a sustainable aircraft that plugs in like a Tesla. And that’s the future.”
San Jose-based Archer has been developing eVTOL aircraft since 2018 and Texas-based Atlantic is a leading fixed-base operator network and aviation services provider. With their combined resources, they aim to establish an air taxi service that utilizes existing assets at specific locations.
“We live in three dimensions, but we only seem to get around in two. The UN predicts that by 2050, 75% of the world’s population are going to be in cities and that’s going to be a problem, especially if you look at a city like New York, it’s impossible to get around, even at times that are considered non peak times,” Rogers said, adding, “The first route that we’ve announced and we’ve partnered with United is from downtown Manhattan to Newark Airport.”
United Airlines has purchased a billion dollars worth of Archer-built aircraft and they’ve invested in the company three times already.
Initial routes will be “trunk” routes from airport to city center, as there is known demand and strong willingness to pay. The first of these routes was announced in 2022 in partnership with United Airlines on the East Coast. Once the primary trunk routes have been established, “branch” routes will be developed to connect to surrounding communities.
Using a trip from Santa Monica to Malibu for example, which is approximately a 12 mile flight, is a journey that could take anywhere up to and over an hour. According to Archer Aviation, flying by an air taxi could cover that same route in about five minutes and cost each passenger roughly between $30 and $40, which is less than what a rideshare vehicle would more than likely cost.
Uber actually explored a very similar idea with a concept called Uber Elevate, but it abandoned that in December 2020. One of the co-founders of that project, Nikhil Goel, is now Chief Commercial Officer at Archer Aviation. He was also once a systems engineer at NASA.
“What they found was people don’t like helicopters. They’re noisy. They’re extremely expensive, and people didn’t like having them around the cities. And I think Nikhil took a lot of those sorts of lessons and brought them over to Archer,” Rogers said.
The crowd was also able to look over a scale model of the VTOL aircraft that will be used, what Archer Aviation calls the Midnight. Powered by six independent battery packs, each supporting a pair of electric engines, it’s capable of flying up to 100 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph and optimized for regular 20-50 mile urban trips.
Credit: Ben Irving Media
It’s designed to accommodate a certified pilot and comfortably fit up to four passengers and luggage and typically flies at about 1500 feet. Plus the Midnight can perform back-to-back, 20 mile flights with only 12 minutes of charge time in between. It is 6,500 lbs fully loaded and 5,500 lbs without payload, but many of the details regarding the battery technology, including their weight, are a closely guarded secret.
Rogers said that battery technology seems “to get about 6 to 8% better every year” and in January of this year, Archer Aviation entered into a collaboration with NASA to focus on achieving the highest levels of battery cell safety and efficiency for what’s referred to as Advanced Air Mobility systems.
Archer Aviation hopes that they can begin their “air taxi” service in under two years, before the end of 2025.
The Aviation Innovation Series is a monthly lecture series that offers opportunities for aviation professionals and businesses to provide insight into the development of aircraft systems, technology and all things aviation.
“We put together the series to help inform Santa Monicans about our city’s incredible innovation heritage and the exciting technologies that are arriving soon. We have an opportunity to inspire the next generation to build creative solutions to sustainably connect our communities and the world,” said event organizer Ben Marcus, adding, “We’ll be moving the events around [in the future] amongst various venues in the city in order to reach as many members of our community as possible.”