空中出租车创业公司Archer与汽车制造商FCA合作生产电动飞机

Archer正在发展一种用于在城市交通中的，电动垂直起降（eVTOL）飞机的航空公司，该公司将与汽车制造商菲亚特·克莱斯勒汽车（FCA）建立新的合作伙伴关系，以联合后者的工程专业知识，设计，供应链和材料科学。 Archer的目标是从2023年开始大规模生产其eVTOL，并于今年年初进行首次发布。

在新的团队合作中，FCA将为Archer的eVTOL驾驶舱的设计做出贡献，这也是汽车制造商拥有丰富专业知识的另一个领域，因为该公司已经为汽车业务设计了数十年的驾驶舱。飞机将由电动机提供动力，并且具备以150英里/小时的最高速度飞行60英里的能力。通过与FCA合作研发，Archer eVTOL的设计安静且高效，降低了飞机的制造成本以实现并可持续的大批量制造。

Archer希望FCA帮助其实现流程效率，从而将eVTOL推向市场，推出使最终用户也可以负担得起的合理业务。总部位于帕洛阿尔托的Archer希望最终将生产规模扩大到每年生产数千台eVTOL飞机，未来为全球城市服务增添空中出租车服务。

Archer总部位于帕洛阿尔托，由联合创始人Brett Adcock和Adam Goldstein领导，包括首席工程师Goeff Bower等行业高管在空中客车的Vahana eVTOL计划中担任过内部职务。Archer在今年早些时候脱颖而出，吸引了沃尔玛（Walmart）电子商务业务现任总裁兼首席执行官马克·洛尔（Marc Lore）（当Jet被零售商收购时，他曾是Jet的联合创始人兼首席执行官）。

Air taxi startup Archer is partnering with automaker FCA on production of its electric aircraft

Archer, a company that’s looking to develop an airline of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for sue in urban transport, will work with automaker Fiat Chrysler  Automobiles (FCA) in a new partnership to benefit from the latter’s expertise in engineering, design, supply chain and materials science. Archer aims to start production of its eVTOLs at scale beginning in 2023, with an initial unveiling to occur early this year.

The new team-up will see FCA provide input that contributes to the design of Archer’s eVTOL cockpit, as well, another area where the automaker has ample expertise, since it has designed spaces for drivers for many decades in its automotive business. Archer’s aircraft will be powered by an electric motor, and will be able to fly for up to 60 miles at top speeds of 150 mph. The Archer eVTOL is designed to be quiet and efficient, with efforts from the FCA collaboration going towards lowering the cost of its manufacturing to make high-volume manufacturing achievable and sustainable.

Ultimately, Archer is looking to FCA to help it realize efficiencies in its process that can make bringing its eVTOL to market a sound business that can also be accessed affordably by end users. Palo Alto-based Archer is looking to ultimately scale production to the point where it can produce “thousands” of its eVTOL aircraft per year, for use in future air taxi services serving cities globally.

Based in Palo Alto and led by co-founders Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein,  and including industry executives like Chief Engineer Goeff Bower, who previously served int hat role at Airbus’ Vahana eVTOL initiative, Archer launched out of stealth earlier this year with backing from Marc Lore, current President and CEO of Walmart’s ecommerce business (he was co-founder and CEO of Jet when it was acquired by the retailer).