Joby Aviation is an aerospace company that is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for commercial air taxi service. The eVTOL set a new record distance of 154-mile flight, bringing the launching of the electric air taxi service one step closer.
The 154 miles (249km) were covered by the Joby aircraft on a single battery charge in 77 minutes and was remotely piloted from the ground by Justin Paines, the company’s Chief Test Pilot. The aircraft took off from Joby’s Electric Flight Base in California and after completing 11 laps in the air, landed back at the same base. With this test flight, Joby is able to defend its claim of 150 plus miles and show the promising side of using lithium-ion batteries for even longer flights in the future. “While we still have plenty more testing to do, achieving this milestone is an important validation of our technology and I’m incredibly proud to have played a small part in what is, to our knowledge, the longest all-electric eVTOL flight performed to date.“, said Paines.
Joby aims to maximize the energy efficiency of aircraft and puts a huge emphasis on batteries as it requires a big power density during takeoff and during flight. With testing and experimenting, they have been able to create an efficient solution for their aircraft using commercially available batteries. This test flight was conducted with an empty cabin so testing with passengers and dummy loads would be the next step in the production to see how much weight the aircraft can carry in reality. It would be a bit challenging to handle the load but anything’s possible with a little faith and bigger batteries!
While there is still a long way to go before these aircrafts are launched for the public, this record-breaking eVTOL flight was still a big milestone for the aircraft’s development among many more in the future.