BETA Technologies from Vermont presented a video of the flight of the first production all-electric aircraft created from scratch. The Alia CX300 aircraft with a traditional approach to takeoff and landing rolled off the production line with a capacity of up to 300 aircraft per year. The vessel is certified by the authorities and allowed for test flights. This was the first step towards the appearance of true electric aircraft in the US skies, the company said.
Image source: BETA Technologies
BETA Technologies is seen by industry analysts as one of the most likely candidates to be the first to commercialize the idea of electric air taxis. BETA Technologies completes the top three, following the German Volocopter and the Chinese EHang. The coming off the production line of the first production electric aircraft BETA Alia CX300 confirms this, but only partly, which is worth paying attention to.
The Alia CX300 is truly an aircraft without the ability to take off and land vertically, which is what all startups that create new means of air mobility strive for. The company has a model in the eVTOL category – the Alia-250c. This is an electric aircraft with four vertically oriented electric motors for vertical ascent and descent. Earlier this year, the Alia-250c transitioned from vertical to horizontal flight and back again for the first time. The Alia CX300 aircraft has the same design almost identically only without vertically mounted engines. He only had a tail pusher engine (propeller) and lost the ability to fly vertically.
On the other hand, manufacturing, operation and airworthiness certification for a classic aircraft design are radically simpler. Electric aircraft may well begin to penetrate our lives in the form of electric aircraft, and only later transform into futuristic vertical take-off air taxis. While waiting for this moment, you can admire the video of the epic flight of the Alia CX300 in the skies over the USA. What can’t be taken away… firstly, it’s beautiful.
«Within a year, BETA went from the certificate of occupancy of its 200,000-square-foot (18,580-square-meter) manufacturing facility in South Burlington, Vermont, to fully installed equipment, an organized supply chain and powerplant fabrication, to the production of an aircraft with assembly line, obtaining an airworthiness certificate from the FAA and flying an airplane,” the company announced in the comments to the provided video.