Californian electric air taxi startup Archer has announced the location for its first production facility. The plant will be built in Covington, Georgia, next to the airport there, and will be able to produce 650 electric air taxis per year.
Quick recap: Archer has its development plans im May 2020 presented. The air taxi presented at the time looks more like an airplane than a helicopter-like concept. However, the aircraft can take off and land vertically. It should be able to carry four passengers over distances of up to 60 miles (almost 100 kilometers) at a speed of up to 250 km/h. Archer has since christened the model Midnight.
The production of the e-flying taxi is now becoming more concrete. Archer announces it will complete construction of its Covington facility in the first half of 2024 and start production in the second half of 2024. According to the company, the annual production capacity of 650 electric air taxis is an initial value. The location offers “the possibility of later expanding production to up to 2,300 units”. According to Archer, he intends to invest 118 million euros in the system over the next ten years. A government grant package including land transfers, tax incentives and a grant from Georgia’s Regional Economic Business Assistance will also help fund the project.
Irrespective of this, Archer reports a new potential supplier: the Californians want to cooperate with the Taiwanese battery manufacturer Molicel. Against this background, both sides have signed a letter of intent for the supply of battery cells for Archer’s eVTOL model. Molicel is planning a battery factory in Taiwan with an annual capacity of 1.8 gigawatt hours, which is scheduled to start operating in 2023.
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There is also news regarding Archer’s cooperation mit United Airlines. Both sides have now determined an initial route on which Archer’s e-flying taxis are to be used. It runs from Newark Liberty International Airport to the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. It is said to be one of several planned routes in and around the New York metropolitan area. The year 2025 is given as the starting point for the first phase of this network.
In February 2021, United Airlines announced that, together with the regional airline Mesa Airlines, it would buy up to 200 eVTOL air taxis from the Californian startup and would support the company in the development. The planned procurement was initially just a kind of declaration of intent. It is to be triggered “once the aircraft is operational and has met United’s operational and business requirements,” as United Airlines wrote in its statement at the time. In January 2021 Archer also agreed to work with Fiat Chrysler.
investors.archer.com (Work), investors.archer.com (Molicel), archer.com (United Airlines)