Month: April 2023

Volocopter has announced this week the opening of its production facilities in Bruchsal, Germany. The facility includes final assembly lines and area on the airfield to conduct flight tests and pre-delivery quality checks. Volocopter stated in a press release that they have obtained regulatory approvals to produce up to 50 VoloCity aircraft each year.

Volocopter has held a production certificate with EASA since 2021 and the approvals cover the entire VoloCity production process including manufacture of carbon fiber components, assembly of the electric propulsion unit, and final assembly.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on 4 April 2023 at the Bruchsal facility. The event also featured a crewed flight of the Volocopter 2X. Key guests included Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister of Digital Affairs and Transport; Mr. Winfried Kretschmann, Minister of the State of Baden-Württemberg; Dr. Anna Christmann, Federal Government Coordinator for German Aerospace Policy; and upward of 70 business and political representatives.

“Right here is where the aircraft that will change how humanity moves about cities will take off and make its way across the world. This region is known for transforming mobility – the bicycle, the car, and soon Volocopter, too. Electric air taxis and Volocopter in particular is a technology made in Germany that will make the world a more sustainable place,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter.

“Germany is already a world leader in the development of air taxis, thanks in part to Volocopter’s great pioneering spirit. I would like to support and build on this leading role by creating a framework that enables innovation and progress. We are working with key industry players on a strategy for air taxi operations here in Germany, in which all technical and legal issues are addressed without delay. We are doing this so that the first drones carrying people and goods can take off very soon,” said Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister of Digital and Transport.

Volocopter will spend the next month fully ramping up operations at the new production facility and expects to start offering commercial flight services in 2024.

Why it matters: Volocopter is advancing ahead of the competition with full scale assembly lines and production certificates to manufacture its Volocity eVTOL. While a long road is ahead for full vehicle certification and entry into service, Volocopter has made significant progress and appears on track for commercial operations next year.

Source: VoloCopter Press Release

Hillwood hosted the second annual Forward Fort Worth mobility innovation summit early in March this year, a gathering of 150 supply chain executives, entrepreneurs, and investors from across the globe committed to advancing and commercializing mobility innovation throughout the supply chain.
 

“Now more than ever, surface and air mobility innovation across the supply chain requires a powerful combination of people, places and unparalleled strategic partnerships,” said Hillwood Director of Logistics Innovation Ian Kinne. “The two-day event provided a great opportunity for discussion on the innovative technologies and advancements that will ultimately shape the future of mobility for a wide variety of supply chain stakeholders.”

On March 1st, Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, was joined by Fort Worth Mayor, Mattie Parker and Perot Jain Managing Partner, Anurag Jain to welcome attendees and kick off the program at Hotel Drover in Mule Alley. With the overarching goal of driving cross-stakeholder conversations that accelerate the commercialization of transformative mobility technologies throughout the supply chain, the two-day event featured the following panel topics:
     • Warehouse of the Future 
     • The Integration & Commercialization of Advanced Air Mobility Aircraft
     • The Future of Transportation: OEM Perspective
     • FreightWaves State of the Market
     • Which Comes First, Vehicles or the Infrastructure? 
     • Investing in Technologies for Resilient Supply Chains

Speakers and panelists represented AFWERX, City of Fort Worth, ConGlobal, Crown Castle, DroneUp, FAA Southwest Region, FreightWaves, Gideon, Great Dane, Hillwood, Ironspring Ventures, Joby Aviation, NASA, NFI, Nikola Corp., PepsiCo, Perot Jain, Peterbilt Motors, Robotic Research, Ryder System, Inc., Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, Terberg Taylor Americas, Uber Freight, Visit Fort Worth, and Waabi.

Why it’s important: Hillwood’s Forward Mobility Summit focused on an entire mobility ecosystem and included attendees from various areas of the industry, not just on companies manufacturing eVTOLs or electric vehicles or the IT or software firms that help to coordinate logistical problems; the summit helped to bring together a variety of players that more completely represent multimodal approaches to mobility and who will hopefully be able to leverage one another’s strengths to more efficiently build out the future mobility landscape in Fort Worth and beyond.

Learn more about Hillwood’s focus on convening mobility innovators and visionaries at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone here.