Joby Aviation pens long-term supplier agreement with Toray Advanced Composites

Joby Avi­a­tion has signed a long-term agree­ment with Toray Advanced Com­pos­ites and will use its com­pos­ite mate­r­i­al for its yet-to-be-named eVTOL air­craft, which is planned to launch in 2023.

Car­bon fibre pro­vides the nec­es­sary strength-to-weight ratio need­ed for elec­tric air­craft, in order to max­imise its range and speed. Joby Avi­a­tion’s air­craft will have a top speed of 200mph and trans­port four pas­sen­gers a dis­tance of 150 miles on a sin­gle charge.

Every aspect of Joby’s air­craft is being opti­mised for util­i­sa­tion for urban trans­port and high-qual­i­ty car­bon fibre mate­ri­als are a key com­po­nent of achiev­ing its goals. They will be used through­out the vehi­cle struc­ture, propul­sion sys­tems, and inte­ri­or com­po­nents.

In a press release announc­ing the deal, the com­pa­ny select­ed Toray Advanced Com­pos­ites due to its proven her­itage of meet­ing mechan­i­cal and safe­ty require­ments in aero­space and high-per­for­mance auto­mo­tive appli­ca­tions.

JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO, Joby Avi­a­tion, said: “Toray’s prepreg car­bon fiber sys­tems pro­vide unpar­al­leled spe­cif­ic strength and tough­ness, which have enabled Joby to devel­op air­craft with unprece­dent­ed capa­bil­i­ties. We are incred­i­bly proud to be work­ing with Toray as we cer­ti­fy this air­craft, and look for­ward to build­ing a long-last­ing part­ner­ship.”

Toshiyu­ki Kon­do, CEO of Toray Advanced Com­pos­ites, added: “We are very pleased to have final­ized this impor­tant sup­ply agree­ment with Joby Avi­a­tion, a pio­neer in the devel­op­ment of the eVTOL. As chil­dren, we dreamed of being able to fly to a des­ti­na­tion in a frac­tion of the time it would take to dri­ve.

“That is no longer a fan­ta­sy. The elec­tric air taxi is becom­ing a real­i­ty and we at Toray are per­fect­ly posi­tioned to meet the industry’s needs today and in the future. It’s a very excit­ing time.”

Joby Avi­a­tion has spent more than a decade devel­op­ing its air­craft and is cur­rent­ly devel­op­ing its pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty in Mari­na, Cal­i­for­nia. It was also report­ed last week that the com­pa­ny could be in talks with Uber to buy its Ele­vate air taxi busi­ness. Spokes­peo­ple from both com­pa­nies declined to com­ment.