BLOOMBERG: Interview with Joby Founder and CEO, JoeBen Bevirt
A Bloomberg “behind the paywall” interview was published last Thursday with Joby Aviation Founder and CEO, JoeBen Bevirt.
Interviewed by Vandana Gombar, Senior Editor of Global Policy at BloombergNEF, Bevirt says Joby remains on track to launch a commercial service next year with expansion then planned for the UAE, South Korea and Japan.
The feature leads with the catchy headline “Manhattan to JFK in 7 minutes in ‘Affordable’ electric air taxi.” It is interesting to note the term ‘Electric Air Taxi’ is beginning to be used more within the media compared to descriptions like Flying Taxi, eVTOL and, thank goodness, Flying Car.
Vandana Gombar
Gombar begins the interview, “Leaving New York often starts with the long slog out to JFK. Joby Aviation wants to change that and says it is set to launch its electric air taxi service next year at a price that is comparable to a conventional premium cab.” She then quotes Bevirt, “A trip will be cost competitive with the Uber Black service initially and will become an increasingly more affordable service.”
Gombar explains the initial rides will likely take passengers from the centre of New York or Los Angeles to the airport, pointing out that an Uber Black taxi from Midtown Manhattan to JFK costs around USD200, followed by a series of quotes from Bevirt before the main interview begins.
“We have had continued significant interest from both strategic partners and financial investors to be part of this next generation of transportation.”
“A flight in a Joby aircraft from a downtown Manhattan heliport to JFK will take approximately seven minutes, compared to around 50-75 minutes by car.”
“Real estate is the world’s largest global asset class, and it is all about location, location, location. With eVTOLs, you can move seamlessly from one location to another.”
“We believe the quickest way to bring eVTOL flights to the public is with a piloted aircraft, as currently, regulatory agencies don’t have a path to certify fully-autonomous aircraft. However, autonomous aircraft are a possible evolution.”
Gombar points out that Joby has raised more than USD2 billion, with Toyota, Intel and Delta Airlines among the key investors. At the end of this year’s Q1, Joby has USD924 million in cash and short term investments.
Joby aims to manufacture one aircraft a month by the end of 2024, ramping up production to reach, finally, more than one a day.
The main interview then begins.
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When do you launch a commercial service, where, and at what scale?
We have three paths to service launch: two on the commercial side and one with the US Department of Defense. On the commercial side, we have been working with our partner Delta Air Lines to prepare for commercial operations in a number of their top markets, including New York and LA. We’ll be working with them at airports like JFK, LaGuardia and LAX to deliver a best-in-class experience for their customers, connecting them seamlessly onto Joby flights, or on to their final destinations.
The second path on the commercial side is in markets outside the US. For example, as part of our partnership with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority, we’ve been granted a six-year exclusive license to operate air taxis in Dubai.
The third path involves our longstanding partnership with the Department of Defense, which dates back to 2016. Our current and previously completed work with the DoD represents a total potential contract value of USD163 million – the largest in the industry. We delivered our first aircraft to the US Airforce last year at Edwards Air Force Base, which will be used for on-base operations and logistics testing, with a second aircraft expected to join it later this year. We recently committed another two aircraft to MacDill Air Force Base.
With three of the five stages for FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] type certification complete, is the most challenging part over?
We are proud to have been the first to complete the first stage, the first to complete the second stage and now the first to complete the third stage [in February]. We are now focused on the fourth stage – where we complete thousands of tests on various parts of the aircraft and the whole aircraft itself – and are pleased with the progress and momentum there. In addition, we already have our operating certificate and our repair station certificate, both of which are critical to rolling out our commercial service.
When in 2025 will you be launching in the US?
Our target remains to launch commercial passenger services in 2025 – we’re not putting a precise date on it as much of it will depend on the regulatory process, which we don’t control.
The exciting thing about your service is the competitive pricing. Will it be equal to a shared Uber ride ultimately?
Our target is that this becomes an increasingly more affordable service over time. Part of that progression is being cost competitive with Uber Black initially and moving down and becoming competitive with other taxi services. We will get you to your destination significantly faster at a competitive price point. There are multiple elements that make it possible. When you are moving on the ground, you are constrained by 2D [two-dimensional] infrastructure that results in routes that are less direct. The average speed of ground transportation tends to be 20 miles an hour. You can move in the air at 200 miles an hour. Both the aircraft and pilot are able to deliver more passenger miles in a given amount of time. That is the metric that matters for us – how many passenger miles can we deliver each hour. The more passenger miles we are able to deliver, the more cost effectively we are able to deliver them.
When do you plan to reach 100 aircraft per year manufacturing capacity?
We began flying the first prototype in full scale in 2017, with the first production version of that aircraft coming off our manufacturing line about a year ago. We are ramping up the line with the goal of reaching one aircraft a month by the end of the year.
We also have a production line in Dayton, Ohio with the goal of being able to produce up to 500 aircraft a year over time.
We are in the early stages of our progression – moving from pilot manufacturing to phase 1 manufacturing where we are able to build hundreds of aircraft per year. We look at this being analogous to the early days of the automotive industry. Automobiles went from being hand-built – 1 or 10 of a given model per year – to hundreds per year, and then thousands. Today we build nearly 100 million automobiles per year worldwide. eVTOLs will see progressive scaling as well, and that is one of the reasons you are seeing the world’s leading automobile companies leaning into this sector. As you know, Toyota is one of our largest investors, and it has been incredible to have Toyota engineers working shoulder to shoulder with the Joby team since 2019.
We will take a measured approach to ramping production, as we dial in our processes here in California first and then expand to grow production capacity in Ohio.
What are the pros and cons of a manufacturing plus service model?
Our vertical integration, from the component to the aircraft level, supports building a platform from which we can adapt our aircraft to new technologies. For example, as battery technologies improve, we can upgrade our battery packs, which are designed and assembled in-house.
In a market that is nascent, this model gives us a clear advantage in terms of both innovative development, rapid feedback loops and speed to certification. Also, by running the service, we are in the driver’s seat to build out a network rather than relying on somebody else to do it. It does take more investment in machinery, and more people on staff, but those early investments are incredibly valuable in the long term to the customer experience, to the success of the aircraft, and eventually to our shareholders too.
What is the investment required to build a vertiport for an eVTOL?
It will vary based on location and size. We expect to commence passenger service by utilising existing infrastructure, such as general aviation airports, and helipads, of which there are over 5,000 in the US. The Downtown Manhattan Heliport, where we flew as part of an exhibition flight last year, is a great example of a site that’s already preparing for air taxi operations, having issued an RFP for electrification of the site.
Does a new taxi service like yours require special insurance cover? Would the passengers need any additional insurance?
Today, we have insurance coverage for all of our operations, including flight testing of our prototype aircraft. These aircraft operate just like other aircraft operate today. Aviation is not only the fastest mode of transportation, it is also the lowest cost and the safest.
When do you see the need for additional funding, and what will be the route to mobilize that?
We have raised more than USD2 billion to date, and we have had continued significant interest from both strategic partners and financial investors to be part of this next generation of transportation. We’re grateful to have partners like Toyota, which is not only our manufacturing partner but our largest external shareholder, and support from Baillie Gifford, a long-term investor in Joby since 2020. As we expand the business, there may be opportunities to bring in additional partners. We see significant interest from the automotive side, from the aviation side and also from the real estate side. Real estate is the world’s largest global asset class, and it is all about location, location location. With eVTOLs, all of a sudden, you can move seamlessly from one location to another. I think we are going to see interest from real estate operators accelerate over the next few years.
How is aircraft charging different from electric car charging? Are there many adherents to Joby’s electric aviation charging standards?
Our batteries get cycled much more frequently. An electric car battery might get recharged once per day while our batteries are getting recharged dozens of times per day. That means the battery, and the way you treat the battery, is essential to the operating economics, which is critical to the customer, and the environmental impact, which is really important to me.
We have designed the aircraft in a way that we treat the battery well, and we have designed the charging system and the integrated cooling that is part of the GEACS [Global Electric Aviation Charging System] standard to ensure a very long cycle life of the battery. In the lab, we have demonstrated that we can charge and discharge more than 10,000 times on a representative 25-mile flight and still have a battery with good performance. That is essential to the operating economics and for a low climate impact.
Ideally our target is to have lower grams of CO2 equivalent per passenger kilometer (or mile) – on a life cycle basis – than riding an electric car on the ground, and yet you are able to get to your destination more than five times faster.
We put a lot of energy into building what we believe is a really remarkable charging system. One of the challenges – if you don’t have the thermal management system right – is you are not able to charge the battery fast enough, and then the amount you charge customers is not sufficiently compelling. For a 25-mile flight, we expect to recharge the aircraft in the time it will take to offload and reload passengers.
We’re actively sharing the charging standard we’ve developed with our industry to help drive adoption – we believe the ability to charge rapidly is going to be critically important to the success of the service we’re designing.
What led you to imagine and build an air taxi?
I am an environmentalist, an engineer, and passionate about sustainability. I have been dreaming about building a new mode of transportation for more than four decades, ever since I was a young boy walking home from school in the redwoods of Northern California. I dreamed of something that didn’t exist yet: a flying mode of transport that’s clean, quiet, accessible, and that you can take your family or friends on. Electric propulsion has been the critical unlock.
Between NYC, LA, Dubai and DoD – what is the biggest revenue opportunity?
They are all great opportunities. We expect them all to be very significant, and possibly for different reasons. Dubai, for example, attracts more than 10 million tourists per year. And other cities in the UAE are within ranges supported by a high-performance eVTOL aircraft.
What does the next pipeline of opportunities look like?
This is a globally relevant technology that has a significant business case, and we see great opportunities to bring it to market. We’re pursuing certification validation in the UK, Japan and South Korea, and we have partners such as ANA Holdings in Japan and SK Telecom in Korea to explore service. By 2030, we expect our service in cities around the world. We have not made specific projections.
What is the next stage of the eVTOLs evolution? Autonomous eVTOLS?
We believe the quickest way to bring eVTOL flight to the public is with a piloted aircraft, as currently, regulatory agencies don’t have a path to certify fully-autonomous aircraft. However, autonomous aircraft are a possible evolution of our aircraft, and when there is regulatory structure to certify them, I believe you will see autonomous aircraft in the market.
(The total orders for eVTOLs globally are presently close to 11,000 units)
For more information
(News Source: www.bloomberg.com)
(Images: Joby Aviation)
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