In the air electric vehicle competition, manufacturers have been born from pioneering companies and are just starting out. No company that was previously involved in the manufacture of aircraft has looked at the trend of presenting E-VTOL products, which are currently busy.

Now the answer comes from Airbus. This European company, which is already known as an aircraft manufacturer, shows the CityAirbus NextGen concept. The concept shown at the Airbus Summit with the theme Pioneering Sustainable Aerospace is Airbus' answer to the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market, which has recently become increasingly popular.

As an experienced professional in the aircraft field, the CityAirbus concept looks modern, futuristic but still makes sense. Not excessive or out of the box. This fully electric vehicle uses a fixed-wing with a V-shaped tail and eight electric-powered propellers as part of an individually designed distributed propulsion system.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Airbus Helicopters (@airbus_helicopters)

These planes, or helicopters, are designed to carry up to four passengers in flight. And without air emissions, because it uses electric power.

"We are on a quest to co-create an entirely new market that sustainably integrates urban air mobility into cities while tackling environmental and social concerns. Airbus believes that the real challenges are about urban integration, public acceptance and automated air traffic management, as well as vehicle technology and business models. We are building all capabilities to provide safe, sustainable and fully integrated services to the community," said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters.

This aircraft will be developed to meet the mobility needs of urban communities. This concept ranges 80 kilometers and can reach a cruising speed of 120 km per hour. Suitable for urban or inter-city use, such as Jakarta to Tangerang or Jakarta to Bekasi.

Airbus claims this aircraft has a noise-friendly design for urban areas. CityAirbus has a sound level below 65 dB(A) during flight and below 70 dB(A) during landing. It is optimized for hover and cruise efficiency while requiring no moving surfaces or tilted parts during transitions.

CityAirbus NextGen meets the highest certification standards (EASA SC-VTOL Enhanced Category). Designed with simplicity in mind, CityAirbus NextGen will offer best-in-class economic performance in operation and support.

Airbus has benefited from years of research, innovation, two Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) demonstrators, and development of sound technology across its product portfolio, as well as decades of experience in aircraft certification.

Vahana and CityAirbus have jointly conducted 242 flight and ground tests and have flown about 1,000 km in total. In addition, Airbus has used extensive subscale flight testing and wind tunnel campaigns and has leveraged its computational and modeling power. The CityAirbus NextGen is in the detailed design phase now, and the prototype's first flight is planned for 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

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"We have learned a lot from the pilot campaign with our two demonstrators, CityAirbus and Vahana," said Even.

"CityAirbus NextGen combines the best of both worlds with a new architecture that strikes the right balance between hovering and flying forward. This prototype paves the way for certification which is expected around 2025."

Beyond vehicles, Airbus is working with partners, cities, and city dwellers to create the ecosystems critical to enabling this new operating environment to emerge in service to society.

Indonesia itself is also participating in the preparations for welcoming air electric vehicles or E-VTOL. Through the Ministry of Transportation, the government is preparing regulations to prepare for the presence of this future transportation.

The latest is the presence of the Ehang 216 brought by Prestige Motorcar. This autonomous E-VTOL model has been offered to potential customers in Indonesia and is currently being prepared for flight trials next October.