Lift Aircraft prototype image provided by Lift

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As electric cars gradually flood the streets, electric planes may soon start flooding the sky. There are round-the-clock efforts that have led to a paradigm shift in the aviation industry. If everything goes according to plan, your next flight may be propelled by one or more electric motors instead of aviation fuel.

Since the Wright brothers-Orville and Wilbur-pioneered the aviation industry in 1903, the aviation industry has made great strides. They achieved the first powered, continuous, and controllable aircraft. Two years later, they flew the first fully functional aircraft.

Since then, the industry has clearly undergone major transformation and growth, becoming one of the most popular and safest means of transportation in the world. In 2021 alone, the global aviation industry carried approximately 2.2 billion passengers-although due to the coronavirus pandemic, air passenger traffic has decreased by 50% compared to 2019.

Although the aircraft itself has undergone huge technological upgrades over the years, the fuel used to power the aircraft is different. For nearly a century, aviation fuel—petroleum-based or a mixture of petroleum and synthetic fuels—has been used to power aircraft.

But as the world is actively shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, some people call for the aviation industry to follow the example of the automobile industry, and the automobile industry has made significant progress so far.

The global aircraft electrification market may have huge currency potential. According to Research and Markets, the market is expected to grow from US$3.4 billion in 2022 to US$8.6 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2%.

The research institute has observed that the need to reduce carbon emissions, aircraft noise, and control environmental pollution is increasing, which is expected to drive the demand for shifting to electric vehicles. However, the limited range and capacity of electric aircraft are inhibiting the overall growth of the market.

Currently, some companies, such as Honeywell International (NASDAQ: HON), GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), and Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: HON) RTX), Thales Group (EPA: HO), Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (London Stock Exchange code: RR) and Safran Group (US Environmental Protection Agency: SAF)-are struggling to overcome the industry’s search for electric Some obstacles faced in the process of transformation.

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft provide a unique opportunity for the aviation industry to easily adopt renewable energy. Advances in electric propulsion technology—motors, batteries, and electronic controllers—and the increasing demand for urban air transportation—such as air taxis—are driving this technology.

Some start-up companies have already made progress in bringing eVTOL aircraft to the consumer market. One of the startups, LIFT Aircraft, based in Austin, Texas, said it is advancing technology for flying cars and eVTOL aircraft that use electricity to hover, take off and land vertically.

LIFT and similar startups are cooperating with Boeing (NYSE: BA), Airbus (US EPA: AIR), Embraer (BVMF: EMBR3), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO: 7267) , Toyota Motor Company (TYO: 7203), Hyundai Motor Company (KRX: 005380) and NASA have turned flying cars and taxis from today’s ideas into reality.

However, for all-electric aircraft to occupy a meaningful share of the market, advances in battery technology and highly efficient electric converters are needed. These converters can power the aircraft for long-distance flights like current fossil fuels. In addition, the industry may need to address the chemical and fire hazards caused by batteries.

LIFT is trying to overcome these obstacles and ambitiously charting two new paths for the aviation industry-"flying cars" driven by electric motors. The company produced HEXA, an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that anyone can fly.

LIFT stated that technological advancements developed for small drones have made it possible to design a safe, simple, and inexpensive multi-rotor drone that can fly with people.

The company uses distributed electric propulsion (DEP) technology, an autonomous "fly-by-wire" flight control system and its patented HEXA, which is a personal drone that can fly by anyone with minimal training-no pilots required license. LIFT believes that electric vertical flight is possible, the cost is only ⅒ of a helicopter, and the direct carbon dioxide emissions are zero.

The company began this journey in November 2017, and only 7 months after the design was written on paper, it successfully tested a full-scale prototype. The company achieves this feat with most of the parts and tools required for 3D printing.

LIFT believes that the solution to the exponential growth of urban traffic congestion is to use a drone-like personal multi-rotor aircraft that can take off and land almost anywhere. The company is cooperating with a Tier 1 aerospace manufacturer to produce and conduct safety tests. LIFT is expected to launch customer flights in 25 cities in the United States in 2022. You can see the story of HEXA here.

These developments may be good news for the emerging urban air transportation (UAM) market, which is expected to reach US$104 billion by 2023 and US$1 trillion by 2040.

LIFT's current beachhead strategy is to first target markets that do not require time-consuming aircraft certification or battery technology breakthroughs to achieve viability.

The company believes that its technology is ready to take off and may be what investors are looking for.

The previous article was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga's internal sponsored content team and Benzinga's financial partners. Although this article is not and should not be interpreted as editorial content, the sponsored content team will work hard to ensure that any and all information contained in it is true and accurate within the scope of their knowledge and research. This content is for reference only and is not intended as investment advice.

© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. all rights reserved.

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