Air-One, the recently-inaugurated world's first vertiport, located in Coventry, has selected a UK firm to handle EV charging on-site to ensure all possible transport links are green.
Urban Air-Port's network of vertiports will be accompanied by EV charging supplied by Osprey. Credit: Urban Air-Port
London-based Osprey has been selected as "a preferred" EV charging provider not only for Air-One, but an entire planned network of 65 vertiports from founder Urban Air-Port.
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UAP selected the firm for all "non-aeronautical" - meaning ground vehicles - including cars, bikes, and vans, based on a three-week event in which Osprey provided several stations for charging.
The "Urban Air-Choice" and its accompanying app symbolise the vertiport going all-in on green power, ensuring customers are thinking environmentally even before they use the port.
Payment for the chargers can be made through contactless payments or integrated into the UAP app. The firm claims 100% of the energy used for the chargers is generated through renewables. It operates on a "charging-as-a-service" model, meaning continual payment will be necessary.
This is a similar system to one that has taken over the tech sphere - subscription models.
“Our goal is to provide agnostic ground infrastructure for EVTOL cargo and passenger air taxis, including ground transport, as demonstrated at Air One – A seamless, zero-emission, intermodal journey is now possible," Urban Air-Port founder and chairman Ricky Sandhu said.
"We’re delighted to have Osprey join our Advanced Air Mobility ecosystem, the world's strongest and most sustainable. We look forward to building holistic, viable and sustainable infrastructure solutions that can help us all achieve our net-zero goals," he added.
The two companies' partnership is formed on a simple premise: the desire to tackle one of the main issues facing the commercial adoption of electric vehicles - a lack of infrastructure.
The UK has seen something of a boom when it comes to new EV charging systems. Several schemes have popped up in recent months to help battle the shortages.
One of these includes a public charging scheme, backed by Vauxhall, set to encourage private charging station owners to rent out the use of their stations to others.
Read more: Vauxhall-backed community charging could make EVs more viable
This is particularly prudent as the UK has vowed to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
Current estimates suggest that as many as one-third of households will lack access to EV charging when the ban rolls in, meaning investors need to hit the pedals and accelerate development.
Osprey CEO Iain Johnston said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Urban-Air Port to provide safe, reliable and accessible charging at its future sites. The eVTOL space is hugely exciting and is becoming increasingly relevant as the world looks to reduce its emissions in all forms of transport.
"From those electrifying the vehicles on our roads to our skies, we love collaborating with innovators in the EV world, and we look forward to continuing to work with Urban-Air Port on its future exciting projects.”
Air-One, the vertiport, is relatively advanced and has seen significant developments from a range of companies, ranging from tech to manufacturing.
For example, it is monitored using a digital twin created by Dassault Systèmes, which can autonomously manage many aspects of the airport, from fuel usage, optimisation, running diagnostics and granting a "view of the field," so to speak.
It also allows staff to run tests in a risk-free environment which can reduce operating maintenance and costs associated with failures.
Urban Air-Port has teamed up with Hyundai to set up its network of vertiports to push the development of urban air mobility.
eVTOL has a number of advantages over traditional public transport. The main is that, by being powered through electricity, it produces zero emissions.
Air taxis and drones also reduce congestion on roads and reduce the public reliance on cars.
The effects of this are twofold: firstly it allows for more traditional forms of public transport to operate more efficiently with less traffic on roads; it also allows for those that have to use the roads to also have an easier time.
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Vertiports are hardly the first time eVTOL has been applied. This type of mobility has become fashionable for urban areas in a bid to remove road traffic. The most popular form of eVTOL right now is so-called air taxis - autonomous drones that fly passengers from A to B.
They have seen widespread use in particularly dense urban areas, ranging from Brazil to China.
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