Embraer spinoff Eve Air Mobility developing electric 'air taxi' aircraft at Melbourne HQ
Behind the scenes at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, officials with Eve Air Mobility are developing futuristic eight-rotor electric air taxis to start flying "Uber-in-the-sky" passengers by 2026.
Eve — a spinoff of executive jet manufacturer Embraer — is developing and testing its first full-scale prototype electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) in Brazil. This proof-of-concept aircraft should take flight by year's end, said David Rottblatt, vice president of business development.
Eve's U.S. headquarters are co-located at the Melbourne airport inside Embraer’s Engineering and Technology Center. That $24 million, 75,436-square-foot facility is located on Embraer's campus off the north side of the runways.
The young aerospace company remains unknown to most Space Coast residents. But Eve reports it has accumulated non-binding letters of intent to sell up to 2,900 eVTOL aircraft worth about $8.6 billion from 30 customers on five continents.
“Florida is, I think, a very strong aviation market. There's a lot of growth in the state. And as we think about how we want to make this an accessible vehicle for the everyday passenger, we're working very closely with our operators to design concepts of operation (and) route networks that will achieve that community benefit," Rottblatt said.
"So we have an entire ecosystem development team in Eve that is dedicated to making sure that we have a viable path to get to Day One operations," he said.
Eve's brief eVTOL history
Eve was hatched in 2017 as a project within EmbraerX, Embraer's business accelerator arm. FLORIDA TODAY reported on the eVTOL offshoot's early conceptual images, which were unveiled during the 2018 Uber-hosted Elevate Summit conference in Los Angeles.
Eve spun off from Embraer as an independent company in October 2020, then went public on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2022. The company maintains a strategic partnership with Embraer: The eVTOL manufacturing plant is at a former Embraer site in Taubaté in São Paulo, Brazil, with projected capacity of 480 aircraft per year.
The young aerospace company reported more than $300 million in total liquidity last month, which CEO Johann Bordais deemed sufficient to fund operations, certification, research and development through 2025. United Airlines, a key customer, has announced a $15 million investment and a conditional purchase agreement for up to 400 four-seat electric aircraft.
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Last October, Embraer and Japan's Nidec Corp. received approval to launch a joint venture company to develop an electric propulsion system for Eve, with plans to invest more than $77 million and start mass production in 2026.
In January, under the code name Project Plug, the Space Florida board of directors authorized negotiations with the joint venture to seek conduit financing to fund the facility and equipment at an undisclosed Florida location.
Melbourne may service, support air taxis
Rottblatt said the electric aircraft are designed to be built in Brazil, where Eve will reduce operational costs by taking advantage of Embraer's engineering "intellectual horsepower and machine capability." Aircraft will be exported in shipping containers via ocean ships, then reassembled near sea ports. The eVTOLs are designed to fly up to 60 miles on a single charge, he said.
In its business model, he said Eve is also exploring eVTOL maintenance and support functions for Florida customers as an extension of Embraer’s Melbourne and Fort Lauderdale facilities. An example customer: Global Crossing Airlines signed a letter of intent to order up to 200 Eve aircraft and operate out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale "as well as local flying within Key West and all of the Keys, Naples, and Palm Beach," a May 2022 press release said.
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"We have undisclosed customers that are exploring other parts of the state as well that the Melbourne site could be used to support," Rottblatt said.
"And so, I think that Melbourne will be used as potentially a service and support facility, a part warehouse, a location for field service technicians to be able to provide that same type of dispatch, reliability and machine uptime that our conventional executive and commercial operators have come to expect from Embraer," he said.
Electric aircraft companies eyeing Florida
The fledgling eVTOL industry is gaining traction in Florida. In a secretive economic development project named Project Louis, an undisclosed company wants to open a 500,000-square-foot electric-plane factory by 2030 at an undisclosed Sunshine State location, Space Florida records show.
This mystery company — which proposes to employ 1,500 workers — "is in early-stage development of a hybrid electric two seat plane for training and are planning for commercial use additional models," a Space Florida agenda memo said.
Greg Donovan, Melbourne airport executive director, called his facility "a perfect match" for Eve.
“Whether it is with conventional aviation or emerging technology such as eVTOL, MLB is well positioned to support the needs of the aerospace industry by providing unmatched infrastructure and cost advantages," Donovan said in an email.
"The airport’s resources coupled with the area’s experienced workforce is a perfect match for future eVTOL development. I can envision several manufacturing, maintenance and/or operational programs being located here in the future, and we are actively working with our existing partners and new companies to further develop this new technology," Donovan said.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Embraer spinoff Eve developing "Uber-in-the-sky" electric air taxis
