German urban air taxi developer Volocopter has revealed its latest design, called the VoloCity.
The aircraft is the fourth iteration of the company’s electrical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) air taxi and is the first that meets the new European Aviation Safety Agency standards.
The VoloCity can carry two passengers up to 35km (22 miles) and has a top speed of 110km/h (68mph). It is propelled by 18 rotors and has a low noise signature for operations in urban areas.
Volocopter said that the VoloCity incorporates changes from over 1,000 test flights conducted on previous Volocopter generations. Changes made include aerodynamically shaped rotor beams to increase flight efficiency and a new stabilizer.
Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter said, “The VoloCity is our most powerful Volocopter yet. It is rigorously designed to meet the demands of Urban Air Mobility and incorporates all requirements of the SC-VTOL certification standard established by EASA in July.
“It is a result of all insights we have gathered from our extensive testing programs over the past years. With the VoloCity we will open the first commercial routes and bring Urban Air Mobility to life.”
Volocopter is also developing a network of terminals, so-called “VoloPorts” and is working on ways to integrate its air taxis into air traffic management systems of cities. The company, which plans to run the aircraft and infrastructure for fleets of Volocopters, is partnering with companies such as Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport to achieve this.
Volocopter said that flight testing will continue with its 2X pre-series model until the commissioning of VoloCity. A public test flight with the 2X is planned to happen between October and December this year in Singapore, alongside the first demonstration of its VoloPort Urban Air Mobility infrastructure prototype.
