Express Air Taxi

Aerial taxis are on their way

"In 2013, Peter Thiel said, "We wanted to see airborne automobiles, but we have 140 signs for them. Five years later we have twice as many character per two tweets, but no airborne coaches. However, in less than five years, face to face drone or what ARC calls air taxi could send air travelers from city to airport at a cost competing with conventional cabs if the battery powers that drive them further improved as we expected.

There are at least three start-ups - Volocopter, eHang and Kitty Hawk - and three incumbent companies - BoeingBA, AirbusEADSY and Uber - which invest in the design of stand-alone commercial airliners, mainly mini-helicopters such as the one shown above. Although the reach is finite, the Vertical TakeOff and Landing (eVTOL) electrical drone will be flying over the congestion, which is likely to increase as stand-alone electrical vehicle (EV) systems begin to predominate city streets.

{\pos (192,210)}four years ago, the drone passengers couldn't take off at all. Electrically driven UAVs have to transport more power than they need to meet the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards, and are extremely heavily elastic. However, in the last four years there has been a dramatic improvement in batteries use. Innovation in the field of batteries has increased the amount of power per kg of lithium-ion batteries.

Recent generation can provide more power per cubic metre, thus extending the air taxi's reach without requiring recharging. Arc is estimating that enhanced batteries will allow an air taxi to travel the 12-mile distance from Manhattan to JFK by 2020,4 as the following screen shows. Let's take a closer look at why we estimated the costs of a NYC to JFK air taxi ride to be less than half the costs of a conventional heli.

Lower landings are critical in our helicopter models, resulting in $43 per helicopter per trip. Due to the fact that drone pilots are more quiet and agile, landings and take-offs are unlikely to demand the capabilities of pilots on conventional helipads. Reduced operational cost will also be an important resource for expected cost reductions, around $42 per trip.

The initial service cost for electrical cars is 65% lower than for conventional gas-powered cars. Lufttaxis shouldn't be any different. Compared to this, the lower initial cost of ownership and periodical drone repairs cost are a cost saving resource, while the lower speeds of drone and spare battery are an additional cost.

Although we are estimating the saving potentials of 15 US dollars per aircraft, they are not realised so quickly in the USA. The FAA demands that aircraft passengers and aircraft operators are on boards, a regulative obstacle that must be taken by drone aircraft. In other words, with a fighter aviator, ARC estimated the costs would be $89, still $67 less than a heli-fly.

At first there were electrical vehicles, then electrical lorries, and soon there should be electrical air taxi-cabs. We believe that it will not stop there: the continuous improvement of batteries that increases densities of electricity and performance should make possible many other ways of electrical transportation, some perhaps even that we cannot even begin to envision. There are two main factors why we believe most predictions tend to neglect our batteries.

Firstly, they are underestimating the acceptance of electrical cars, and secondly, they are overlooking the effects of more effective battery systems that allow different vehicle models to drive electrically. In the following figure, a TeslaTSLA Model S has an overall power consumption of 0.27 kilowatt hours per kilometer, and an air taxi is fourfold less powerfull, at 1.16 kilowatt hours per kilometer, and a Tesla Hali is sixfold less powerfull.

The improvement of batteries should offer possibilities for investments in the next five to ten years. Major changes from engines to batteries will have a major effect on everything.