Archer successfully completes multiple battery pack drop tests as part of its type certification programme with FAA

Archer has com­plet­ed rig­or­ous bat­tery pack drop test­ing at a Nation­al Insti­tute for Avi­a­tion Research lab. This rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in the devel­op­ment of the company’s pro­pri­etary elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem for its Mid­night eVTOL air­craft.

This is regard­ed as one of the most dif­fi­cult tests to pass for an eVTOL air­craft, with the result putting Archer in a strong posi­tion to suc­cess­ful­ly com­plete this same test in upcom­ing for-cred­it test­ing with the Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion.

Alex Clarabut, Archer’s Bat­tery Lead, said: “Suc­cess­ful­ly pass­ing the bat­tery pack drop tests marks a piv­otal moment that paves the way for future ‘for cred­it’ cer­ti­fi­ca­tion test­ing with the FAA. This accom­plish­ment high­lights our ded­i­ca­tion to not just meet­ing, but exceed­ing safe­ty stan­dards.

“It is a crit­i­cal step towards our goal of ensur­ing that Mid­night will be among the safest air­craft in the skies. It’s a tes­ta­ment to our team’s relent­less pur­suit of inno­va­tion and excel­lence, and we’re thrilled with the results that the bat­tery packs not only passed the test, but still func­tioned prop­er­ly after­ward.”

Over the course of this week, Archer’s engi­neer­ing and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion teams led Midnight’s pro­pri­etary bat­tery packs through three 50-foot drop tests sim­u­lat­ing extreme impact sce­nar­ios.

Test­ed at vary­ing states of charge, zero per cent, 30 per cent and 100 per cent, the bat­tery packs with­stood the impact with­out any signs of fail­ure and con­tin­ued to func­tion prop­er­ly.

This test is renowned with­in the elec­tric avi­a­tion indus­try as one of the most chal­leng­ing bar­ri­ers to cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, designed to ensure bat­tery packs can safe­ly endure sig­nif­i­cant impact. BETA Tech­nolo­gies com­plet­ed the same drop test in Decem­ber 2022.

A piv­otal fac­tor in the suc­cess of these tests is Archer’s choice to utilise cylin­dri­cal cells with­in Archer’s bat­tery pro­pri­etary bat­tery pack design.

Archer’s goal is to trans­form urban trav­el, replac­ing 60–90-minute com­mutes by car with esti­mat­ed 10–20 minute elec­tric air taxi flights that are safe, sus­tain­able, low noise, and cost-com­pet­i­tive with ground trans­porta­tion.

Archer’s Mid­night is a pilot­ed, four-pas­sen­ger air­craft designed to per­form rapid back-to-back flights with min­i­mal charge time between flights.