The first test flight of BETA Technologies’ electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi was successfully completed in New York City by the aerospace manufacturer BETA Technologies, which is based in Vermont.
The company plans to put its air taxi into commercial use by 2026, and its partner brand, Blade Air Mobility, will take reservations for passengers.
At this time, Blade Air Mobility provides short-haul helicopter rides for affluent customers who want to save time by avoiding traffic.
The company’s goal is to begin utilizing BETA’s eVTOL aircraft in the Big Apple within the next three years.
$800 million funding for BETA Technologies
Since it was established in 2017, BETA Technologies has amassed more than $800 million in funding and employs approximately 300 people at the moment.
There are two variations of the ALIA-250 EVA eVTOL aircraft: one is designed for carrying cargo, and the other is designed to carry passengers.
There will be room for six people in the passenger version, including the pilot, and it will cost approximately $4 million. Both iterations have the capacity to achieve top speeds of 170 miles per hour.
ALIA-250 EVA
The ALIA-250 EVA has a range of up to 250 nautical miles and can be fully recharged in as little as half an hour.
Due to the fact that it is entirely electric, the ALIA-250 EVA makes approximately one-tenth of the noise that a conventional helicopter does.
At the airport serving Westchester County in White Plains, New York, examinations were carried out the previous week. BETA already possesses multiple ALIA-250 EVA fully operational prototypes, several of which have traveled distances greater than 320 kilometers (200 miles).
