Urban
air mobility (UAM) is an ideal form of alternate transportation and is expected
to be witnessed not too far off in the future. With the roads becoming
increasingly congested in cities, researchers are trying to develop better and
enhanced means of daily commute for the population for safe travel. Urban air
mobility is something that can serve as an advanced way to commute on a daily
basis. With the progress of time and technology, urban air mobility witnessed
major advancements.
From
2015 to 2019, a number of the testing and development on the use cases of urban
air mobility has taken place. Urban air mobility use cases (air taxi, air
ambulance, airport shuttle, cargo aerial vehicle, and others) are expected to be
introduced by 2024-2025 in the market.
Urban
air mobility, as a part of the future urban landscape, can be described as the
system that enables on-demand, safe, highly automated, and passenger and cargo-carrying
air transportation services in a metropolitan environment for manned aircraft
and unmanned aircraft systems.
According
to the market intelligence published by BIS Research, “Global Urban
Air Mobility (UAM) Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2023-2035”, the
global urban air mobility market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.2% during
2023-2035. The market is projected to grow owing to the factors that are
driving the market, including increasing use of UAVs in commercial and civil
applications, increasing need for efficient transportation and logistics, and
increasing environmental concerns and energy impacts.
One
of the constraints in the urban air mobility market is the weight of the battery. This is one of the reasons hindering the growth of
the eVTOL aircraft in the urban air mobility market. The weight of the battery
is still an issue for lightweight flying vehicles, as they cannot carry heavy
batteries. Effectively, 30% of a flying vehicle’s weight must include the
weight of batteries and energy stored. The limited capacity of batteries to
support the functioning of eVTOL aircraft for long flight time is obstructing
the adoption of eVTOL aircraft. Majorly, the li-ion battery is preferred, and
its cost is expected to be $100/kWh-$150/kWh by 2025. Complex software systems
for validation and certification is another technological challenge for the
growth of the urban air mobility market.
In
addition, the eVTOL aircraft have three types of energy sources, which include
battery, electric hybrid, and hydrogen. The electric/battery and electric
hybrid together constitute of 97.69% of the total energy sources of eVTOL aircraft.
The majority of the eVTOL aircraft manufactured by the companies are electric,
with a market share of 71.54% of the total aircraft manufactured.
The
demand for electric hybrid eVTOL aircraft is increasing as they can fly on fossil
fuels as well as on batteries. Electric hybrid aircraft holds a market share of
26.15% following electric eVTOL aircraft. Moreover, the eVTOL aircraft use
hydrogen to generate electricity for the aircraft, and it holds 2.31% of the
total eVTOL energy sources market. The companies that are manufacturing
electric/hydrogen eVTOL aircraft are Avianovations, Supervolant, and Urban
Aeronautics, Ltd.
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