Volocopter reveals new long-range fixed-wing eVTOL, VoloConnect, with certification expected by 2026
Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter has unveiled its newest eVTOL aircraft at EBACE Connect, VoloConnect, which is longer-range, four-seater model expected to achieve certification by 2026.
While the company’s other eVTOL aircraft, VoloCity has a range of 35km and targets the inter-city market, the VoloConect has been designed to address the market beyond and complements Volocopter’s other aircraft: VoloDrone, VoloPort and the digital platform, VoloIQ.
VoloConnect uses a hybrid lift and push design to transport up to four passengers on routes of 100 km at a speed of 180 km/h, with a top speed of about 250 km/h. Volocopter’s team of experts, led by Chief Engineer Sebastian Mores, have been working on the aircraft for more than two years and filed several patents for its technology.
Multiple scaled prototypes of VoloConnect have already been flown and work is quickly progressing towards testing full scale prototypes. It has six lifting electrical motors and rotors and two propulsive fans, with retractable landing gear.
Reuter said: “VoloConnect embodies the next dimension of our mission to offer affordable, efficient, and sustainable flight mobility solutions for cities around the globe. Leveraging customer insights from our existing VoloCity and VoloDrone, VoloConnect’s capacity to support longer missions and higher payloads serves another strong growing market demand.”
“We are confident that this aircraft family, and the years of experience and leading innovation on which it’s founded, will pioneer the way for electric UAM services to launch commercially and internationally.”
Volocopter is on course to become one of the first eVTOL aircraft OEMs to launch passenger-carrying services, as it is on target to begin operations in Singapore as early as 2023. In Europe, it is committed to starting services in France, to coincide with the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Volocopter has taken a holistic approach to urban air mobility, by developing a full ecosystem that connects the necessary components to offer electric flight in cities. It includes partnerships with Aéroports de Paris, Microsoft Azure and Lufthansa Industry Solutions.
Additionally, the company is the only eVTOL developer with a product portfolio of multicopter and fixed wing designs that can be used for passenger and cargo transportation and which has received Design Organisation Approval from European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Additional comments and insight from Reuter about the VoloConnect, where he talks about battery technology, autonomy and funding, will be available to read at eVTOL Insights later this week.