AIR looks to Nidec for eVTOL battery
Aspiring consumer eVTOL maker AIR has tasked Japanese electric motor major Nidec with development of the motor for the production model of AIR’s two-seater aircraft, AIR ONE. The two companies…
Aspiring consumer eVTOL maker AIR has tasked Japanese electric motor major Nidec with development of the motor for the production model of AIR’s two-seater aircraft, AIR ONE. The two companies will design and develop a motor specifically for mid-sized electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The pair’s objective is to develop an efficient motor customized to support the single-charge journeys of up to 100 miles targetted for AIR ONE. Funded by the BIRD Energy program of the BIRD Foundation (Israel-U.S Binational Industrial R&D Foundation) to support innovative joint clean energy US-Israel collaborations, the resulting enhanced-efficiency motor will be incorporated into AIR ONE’s continued flight testing and eventually into AIR’s production practices.
Israel-based AIR recently announced its participation in the US Air Force’s AFWERX Agility Prime programme to drive flight testing and additional eVTOL R&D efforts in the United States. Previous full-scale, full-weight flight tests have included hover-to-cruise and cruise-to-hover transitions.
More than 1,000 AIR ONE vehicles have been reserved via preorder.
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