Photo: YouTube/Kirsten Dirksen
To say that the development of electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically (eVTOLs) has exploded over the past years wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Thanks to the Vertical Flight Society (VFS) we have the numbers to back that up. And they’re truly remarkable.
It’s funny to think about the fact that helicopters were once the new type of aircraft that people looked at with suspicion and admiration. That was way back in the twentieth century, with the American Helicopter Society founded in 1943, in support of the young industry. Today, helicopters are slowly starting to become outdated, even if there are still some attempts to come up with fresh concepts here and there.
According to the current trends, helicopters are too polluting, noisy, bulky, and expensive to maintain. This is why they should retire, and make way for their electric counterparts – the sleek, quiet, zero-emission eVTOLs. Keeping up with these changes, the old American Helicopter Society changed its name to VFS, a more generic title that allows it to embrace all the hybrid or entirely new machines that have sprung from the helicopter legacy.
Almost a decade ago, VFS was almost in the same position as it had been half a century ago. It was in 2014 when it organized the first eVTOL in the world. The idea of an aircraft that combines the capabilities of a helicopter with those of an airplane, while powered only by electric motors, was still very new.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2023, and VFS claims to have more than 760 eVTOL concepts cataloged in its unique World eVTOL Aircraft Directory. It’s also worth noting that 120 of these were registered in 2022 alone. This clearly shows the growing momentum in this emerging industry. In just a couple of years, we’ve seen a huge number of new eVTOL designs, as well as eVTOL-related developments, such as vertiport concepts and specific air traffic management software.
Also, almost 50 new companies in this sector have joined VFS last year, with the nonprofit’s company membership now adding up to 183. Almost half of them have joined only in the last five years – again, demonstrating the rapid expansion in this aviation field.
Since that first event that was only a simple meeting for folks in the eVTOL community, VFS has also come to hold the world’s largest and oldest eVTOL industry event. This is the Annual VFS Electric VTOL Symposium, reuniting not just industry players, but also government officials.
This year, the Symposium is taking place in Mesa, Arizona, by the end of this month (January 24-26). In addition to eVTOL manufacturers, such as Archer, Joby, Overair, Wisk, Lilium, attendants can also expect to hear from government representatives, including NASA and DARPA.
According to the current trends, helicopters are too polluting, noisy, bulky, and expensive to maintain. This is why they should retire, and make way for their electric counterparts – the sleek, quiet, zero-emission eVTOLs. Keeping up with these changes, the old American Helicopter Society changed its name to VFS, a more generic title that allows it to embrace all the hybrid or entirely new machines that have sprung from the helicopter legacy.
Almost a decade ago, VFS was almost in the same position as it had been half a century ago. It was in 2014 when it organized the first eVTOL in the world. The idea of an aircraft that combines the capabilities of a helicopter with those of an airplane, while powered only by electric motors, was still very new.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2023, and VFS claims to have more than 760 eVTOL concepts cataloged in its unique World eVTOL Aircraft Directory. It’s also worth noting that 120 of these were registered in 2022 alone. This clearly shows the growing momentum in this emerging industry. In just a couple of years, we’ve seen a huge number of new eVTOL designs, as well as eVTOL-related developments, such as vertiport concepts and specific air traffic management software.
Also, almost 50 new companies in this sector have joined VFS last year, with the nonprofit’s company membership now adding up to 183. Almost half of them have joined only in the last five years – again, demonstrating the rapid expansion in this aviation field.
Since that first event that was only a simple meeting for folks in the eVTOL community, VFS has also come to hold the world’s largest and oldest eVTOL industry event. This is the Annual VFS Electric VTOL Symposium, reuniting not just industry players, but also government officials.
This year, the Symposium is taking place in Mesa, Arizona, by the end of this month (January 24-26). In addition to eVTOL manufacturers, such as Archer, Joby, Overair, Wisk, Lilium, attendants can also expect to hear from government representatives, including NASA and DARPA.
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