Volocopter releases handbook guide for building physical infrastructure for eVTOL aircraft operations

Volo­copter has unveiled a com­pre­hen­sive Volo­Port hand­book for the phys­i­cal infra­struc­ture sup­port­ing eVTOL) air­craft oper­a­tions.

This detailed hand­book is described as a valu­able resource for Volo­copter part­ners build­ing urban air mobil­i­ty infra­struc­ture that guides read­ers through the design, con­struc­tion, mate­r­i­al use, infra­struc­ture adapt­abil­i­ty, and facil­i­ty oper­a­tions.

The knowl­edge shared stems from Volocopter’s numer­ous and direct col­lab­o­ra­tions with author­i­ties, air oper­a­tors, insti­tu­tions, part­ners, and inter­nal exper­tise as an eVTOL air­craft design­er. They include Arup B.V, Bayards Alu­mini­um Con­struc­ties and GRAFT Gesellschaft von Architek­ten mbH.

Flo­ri­an Reuter, Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer, Volo­copter, said: “Thanks to the col­lab­o­ra­tion with our part­ners and our inter­nal exper­tise, I am delight­ed to demon­strate once again how we are lead­ing the space by offer­ing a tan­gi­ble solu­tion on the infra­struc­ture side of the UAM ecosys­tem.

“We are look­ing for­ward to part­ner­ing with inter­est­ed par­ties around the globe to has­ten the devel­op­ment of a sus­tain­able UAM ver­ti­port net­work, and I am excit­ed to soon see our Volo­Ports in oper­a­tion.” 

Volocopter’s Volo­Port solu­tion is a ready-made, com­pact, and func­tion­al­ly inde­pen­dent urban ver­ti­port con­cept. It can be used to accel­er­ate the devel­op­ment of urban eVTOL infra­struc­ture, expe­dit­ing the pub­lic adop­tion of UAM and expand­ing its ecosys­tem in megac­i­ties.

The Volo­Port can be time- and cost-effec­tive­ly mod­i­fied to var­i­ous busi­ness sizes, tar­get cus­tomer groups, and air­craft oper­a­tions, requir­ing min­i­mal infra­struc­ture foot­print, espe­cial­ly in dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed urban set­tings.

Its mod­u­lar design fea­tur­ing a com­bi­na­tion of pre­fab­ri­cat­ed mate­ri­als allows con­struc­tion to start as small as 25m x 25m — about twice the area of a ten­nis court — while ensur­ing a safe and accom­mo­dat­ing space for both eVTOL oper­a­tors and pas­sen­gers. Addi­tion­al land­ing pads and work­space can be imple­ment­ed as required. 

In describ­ing the Volo­Port is described as:

• Cost-effi­cient, mod­u­lar, and flex­i­ble con­struc­tion design adapt­able to avail­able land, sea, or above infra­struc­ture spaces
• Option­al con­fig­u­ra­tions for sin­gle lev­el or stacked struc­tures. Struc­tures can be pre­fab­ri­cat­ed and quick­ly dis­man­tled, if required
• Ful­ly oper­a­tional as a stand-alone ver­ti­port equipped with a state-of-the-art reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work. Com­pli­ant with eVTOL air­craft design, per­for­mance data, and ground han­dling needs (e.g., charg­ing, fire­fight­ing and res­cue, and main­te­nance)
• Smooth and safe cus­tomer jour­ney with a con­sis­tent brand pres­ence in the designed space

The Volo­Port hand­book is based on a thor­ough assess­ment of the infra­struc­ture and its oper­a­tional con­cept. Par­ties inter­est­ed in part­ner­ing with Volo­copter to build and oper­ate UAM infra­struc­tures, such as cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties, investors, busi­ness­es, or con­struc­tion com­pa­nies, are eli­gi­ble to request this hand­book from Volo­copter.  

For a sus­tain­able UAM ecosys­tem, a net­work of ground-based infra­struc­ture is as crit­i­cal to its suc­cess as the devel­op­ment of eVTOL air­craft. Volo­copter has always pur­sued the com­ple­tion of the ecosys­tem from both sides: the air­craft and the infra­struc­ture.

Since high­light­ing its full-scale first ver­ti­port con­cept in Sin­ga­pore, 2019, Volo­copter has worked close­ly with the Euro­pean Avi­a­tion Safe­ty Agency (EASA) to give and receive guid­ance on UAM infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment.