Testing Volocopter’s eVTOL

VoloCity takes passengers around the city, first in Paris and then around the world. Volocopter’s eVTOL for passenger transport, VoloCity, is one of the company’s aircraft being developed to reform air transport, alongside the VoloDrone for parcel transport, the VoloConnect for longer distances and the VoloIQ, the infrastructure underpinning the VoloCity, which will serve as the system’s brain.

VoloCity will be able to cover shorter journeys of around 35 kilometres to serve as an intra-city air taxi, with the service to be launched in 2024, around the time of the Paris Olympics. According to the company’s current CEO Florian Reuter, eVTOLs could fundamentally change the way urban transport is organised, and Volocopter has taken significant steps in recent years to achieve this: after Paris, it plans to introduce the air taxi service in 40 other cities, has signed an agreement with the designers of the futuristic Saudi Arabian city of Neom, and last year demonstrated the VoloDrone’s capabilities in a public demonstration.

A few months ago, the company tested a full-size prototype of VoloCity in the air: the results of the December experiment have now been shared with the public. The two-passenger vehicle is powered by 18 rotors and nine batteries, has a range of 35 kilometres on a single charge and a maximum speed of 110 km/h. Although the vehicle is capable of autonomous flight, it will initially be piloted until the company obtains the necessary permits.

Source: Volocopter