Inspenet, February 21, 2023
Blade Air Mobility and BETA Technologies successfully tested the world’s first all-electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL), or air taxi, in the New York City metropolitan area in the US.
The historic test flight took place at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York.
“This demonstration is a huge milestone in our transition from helicopters to electric vertical aircraft, and we are pleased that our partners at BETA have designed the right aircraft with the necessary range, capacity and noise profile for use in our key markets. including our New York City base of operations,” explained Rob Wiesenthal, CEO of Blade.
BETA’s air taxi, the ALIA-250 EVA, has been in the works for three years, influenced in its design by the arctic tern, a seabird that migrates farther than any other bird, visiting all corners of the earth, which inspired the company to design the most efficient method of flight.
The ALIA-250 EVA has two versions, one optimized for passengers and the other for cargo. The eVTOL is powered by a direct-drive distributed electric propulsion with a range of 250 NM and a charging time of 50 minutes.
The cargo version features the same specs, but replaces the passenger seat with 200 ft 3 of cargo space.
Blade initially announced that it would purchase up to 20 of BETA’s first ALIA-250 passenger eVTOLs as part of its plan to deploy them on routes in the US. In addition, the company will install the necessary charging infrastructure to support the transition.
Source and Photo : https://electrek.co/2023/02/14/first-electric-air-taxi-takes-flight-around-nyc/
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