South Korea looks to commercialize the aerial mobility market domestically by 2025, aiming to address the severe traffic congestion issues in urban areas such as Seoul. Working in conjunction with Hyundai Motor Group, the South Korean government intends to begin aerial mobility services in 2025 with two sets of terminals, where personal air vehicles (PAVs) would travel in predetermined routes along major cities. By 2030, the government hopes to expand from 2 to 10 terminals, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

“The ministry will join hands with Hyundai Motor Group and other local companies to push forward the UAM commercialization project,” a ministry official said. It is not yet known which companies the government will be working with aside from Hyundai. 

The government expects the aerial mobility market to reach 13 trillion won (approx 11 billion USD) by 2040, as aerial mobility services will work with existing transportation infrastructure in order to greatly ease traffic congestion in major urban areas. For this purpose, the PAVs that will be put in use will feature a range of 30 to 50 km, or 19 to 31 miles. The ministry additionally noted that promotion of such a service would require a “comprehensive industrial ecosystem”, where companies work to cover all phases of an aerial mobility service: production of PAVs, maintenance, repair and overhaul services, and flight control systems and insurance services.

Traffic congestion in Seoul, South Korea

Recently, Hyundai Motor Services revealed their S-A1 personal air vehicle (PAV) concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Featuring an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing design, the S-A1 will hold 5 people including the pilot, and Hyundai will continue to keep an avenue open for potential autonomization in the future.

To learn more about Hyundai’s developments, click here

Hyundai’s S-A1 PAV concept design.

Why it’s important: As both one of the largest industrial sectors and smallest countries with regards to landmass, the prospect of aerial mobility is a highly lucrative one to the government of South Korea, whose cities such as Seoul holds some of the highest levels of traffic congestion among major cities. The progressive steps taken by the government to work with domestic companies to accelerate development of aerial mobility look to result in a first-rate aerial mobility service, complete with local infrastructure and vehicles.

Source // The Korea Herald

Until Connected Kerb, EV charging infrastructure has never been so sustainable. With a mind set on the future of mass adoption of EV vehicles, Kerb has developed charging points that are made from recyclable materials, have extended product lifespans over other chargers, and are built to be flexible for future innovations. As eVTOLs continue to edge closer to reality, companies like Kerb will have great market value as electric charging infrastructure providers. Companies like Kerb are gearing up now for an eVTOL future.

Integrated Kerb charging infrastructure

The SEAL Business Sustainability Awards has launched in 2017, and honors exemplary sustainability, environmental achievements and leadership. Past winners have included industry giants such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Addidas. Winners are selected through examinations of companies’ performance and sustainability innovations.

Said Connected Kerb CEO Chris Pateman-Jones, “Future-proofing is vital to sustainability. Chargers need to be a long-life asset. We are installing advanced infrastructure that is flexible to new technologies when they come along, avoiding the need for additional materials and construction.”

Kerb is also developing wireless charging capabilities, which may eventually be useful in eVTOL operations

Although it has not yet entirely hit the spotlight, the question of eVTOL charging has been prominent throughout discussions of the future. For example, the topic has been heavily discussed at Uber Elevate’s aerial mobility development conferences; often entire seminars have been dedicated to the speed of charging and batteries’ product life cycle, as well as how to seamlessly combine charging support with the user side of transportation infrastructure. To learn more about Uber’s current view of battery topics, watch the full seminar here.

Why it’s important: As aerial mobility gets closer to reality, more and more air taxi startups have begun to make significant progress. Charging infrastructure will be an integral and complex part of these services, and operators may choose to outsource this task to other companies such as Connected Kerb. By mastering charging for street EV’s, Kerb has the potential to become a highly coveted eVTOL charging provider.

The “Global Electric VTOL (eVTOL) Aircraft Market: Focus on Technology, Components, Operations, Energy Source, Infrastructure, Applications, and End User – Analysis and Forecast, 2025-2035” report was released on Friday by Research and Markets, a report that projects the market to grow at a significant CAGR of 13.75% during the forecast period from 2025 to 2035.

The report argues that the North America region is expected to dominate the global eVTOL aircraft market in 2025, whereas Asia-Pacific is expected to have the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

Additionally, the report indicates that from 2025, the market is expected to begin particularly in the megacities, including the U.S., Germany, France, Singapore, Dubai, and others, since the systems are under testing at various locations, which is surprising and a confirmation of previously known calculations on the economy of scale of aerial mobility applications.

The report hypothesizes that the U.S. is one of the most prominent countries with a potential for the growth of the global eVTOL aircraft market. In 2025, the U.S. is expected to dominate the global eVTOL aircraft market, acquiring the maximum market share, globally. However, the geographical analysis of this market unveils an immense potential for its growth in the Asia-Pacific region as well.

Additionally, R&M continues to expound on why China is expected to acquire the largest market share, and Singapore is expected to witness the highest growth rate in this region during the period 2025-2035. Similarly, the Europe market is also likely to witness numerous growth opportunities during the forecast period.

Scope of the Report

The eVTOL aircraft market research provides a detailed perspective regarding the applications of the technology, its value, and estimation, among others. The purpose of this market analysis is to examine the eVTOL aircraft outlook in terms of factors driving the market, trends, technological developments, and funding scenario, among others.

The report further takes into consideration the market dynamics and the competitive landscape, along with the detailed financial and product contribution of the key players operating in the market. The eVTOL aircraft market report is a compilation of different segments including market breakdown by technology, energy source, application, end-user, component, infrastructure, and region.

Market Segmentation

• The eVTOL aircraft market (on the basis of component) is further segmented into sensors, airframes, camera, radar, LIDAR, battery, motor, INS/IMU, and GPS/GNSS. The airframes component is expected to dominate the global eVTOL aircraft market in 2025 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period (2025-2035).
• The eVTOL aircraft market segmentation (on the basis of technology) has been done into rotorcraft, vectored thrust, lift+cruise, and hoverbikes. The rotorcraft is expected to dominate the global eVTOL aircraft market in 2025 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Moreover, there are other segments in the global eVTOL aircraft market which includes energy source, end-user, application, and infrastructure.
• The eVTOL aircraft market segmentation by region is segregated into four major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Rest-of-the-World (RoW). Data for each of these regions is provided by technology and by application.

Additionally, the report highlighted a select consortium of high-performing aerial mobility companies, a shortlist of the aerial mobility industry:
The key market players in the global eVTOL aircraft market include Airbus, Airspace Experience Technologies, Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell Helicopter, The Boeing Company, EHANG, Embraer, Karem Aircraft, Kitty Hawk, Lilium, Neva Aerospace, Opener, Pipistrel, Volocopter, and Workhorse Group.

Why it’s important: This report showcases the global reach of the aerial mobility industry and also highlights some of the key trends that are already taking hold in terms of geographical development of industry and the pain points that are encountered on local and large scales. While this report makes a number of assertions that indicate a very rapid growth of the market, TransportUP encourages cross-referencing information and assumptions incorporated in any prospectus to the greatest degree possible.

Joby Aviation, backed by Uber, plans to build a large manufacturing facility in Marina, CA

The flying car company recently opened a 30 day period for public comment and the release of environmental reviews surrounding its plans to develop a factory at the Marina Municipal Airport. The move could bring up to 600 tech jobs to the region and be one of the epicenters of Uber’s ambitious plans to begin commercialized air taxi services by 2023.

Joby Aviation’s aircraft prototype

While Joby already has a presence on the airport, the announcement will significantly improve their manufacturing capabilities to produce their five-seat eVTOL vehicle at scale with a 580,000 sq ft factory in addition to their current hangers used for research and development.

Inside, the plant would allow for “manufacturing, composite fabrication, assemblage of aircraft, parts testing, and research and development,” according to environmental review documents.

The company has already listed several job posting related to the construction of the new factory and comments, “Joby is in the early stages of setting up facilities and equipment in Marina, California for the high rate production of our vehicle. We intend to mass produce our aircraft in multiple buildings and are putting together a team to design and engineer the industrial facilities from the ground up.”

Plans for Joby’s new factory at Marina Municipal Airport. Source: City Of Marina Draft Initial Study

“Joby Aviation is an exciting startup company that is blazing the path for the future air taxi industry,” Matt Mogensen, Marina assistant city manager, writes via email. “Joby’s desire to produce its unique VTOL vehicle right here in Marina will mean hundreds of new high-tech jobs. The city also has land for development opportunities for new facilities, resources, a welcoming community, educated workforce and quality new and existing neighborhoods for the workforce.”

If approved, the city of Marina would lease Joby the land to build its factory for $310,000 per year. If the company were to exercise all of its development options, its rent would increase to $681,800 per year by the end of the ten year agreement.

Why it matters: This announcement comes in the wake of Joby’s recent partnership with Uber and the record-breaking $394M financing deal by Toyota in its recent $590M C-series round of funding. The funding will support Joby’s growth in 2020 and beyond as it will expand its personnel and manufacturing capabilities to meet its goal of introducing air taxi services with Uber by 2023. Combined with a ten years of experience in research and development and the company’s strong partnerships, Joby has positioned itself for success in the growing aerial mobility industry.