Amidst the fanfare of the Paris Olympic Games, German eVTOL startup Volocopter announced on August 7th that the company had successfully launched crewed flights of its 2X series prototype platform from the Groupe ADP’s Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole aerodrome vertiport, ushering the beginning of the critical operational validation phase for two entities’ envisioned Parisian transportation network.
As has been the case with other major eVTOL manufacturers, 2024 has been a consequential year for Volocopter’s road to market maturation. The two-seat 2X prototype series flown this week in Paris possesses a permit to fly imparted by the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), with work towards the attainment of EASA Type Certification for its serial-production successor, the VoloCity platform, now in motion.
In February 2024, Volocopter announced that the German German Federal Aviation Office had cleared a Production Organization Approval (POA) for the Volocity platform, establishing the basis for a ramp up towards serial-production at Volocopter’s facilities in Bruchsal.
The two-seat composite aircraft achieves flight via 18 electric rotors, structured into a large ring configuration, which are powered by nine battery packs. The VoloCity features a range of 35km and a max speed of 110 km/h.
