The newly formed Eve Holding began trading on the New York Stock Exchange last week. Two eVTOL developers, Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, released their financial results from the first quarter of 2022. (Photo, courtesy of Eve)
Last week, Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation released the details of their first-quarter financial results, and Eve Holding began trading on the New York Stock Exchange following their combination with Zanite Acquisition Corp.
Eve, a subsidiary of Embraer and previously referred to as Eve Urban Air Mobility (UAM), was listed on the NYSE as EVEX on May 10. The business combination was first announced to the public at the end of 2021.
The co-CEO André Stein believes that the UAM market has a potential value of $760 billion. “This transaction is a key enabler of our mission to become a leading player” in that market, he remarked. The company’s launch orders total about $5 billion, or 1,825 vehicles, from 19 customers, according to Eve. Those customers include Azorra Aviation, Falko Regional Aircraft, SkyWest, and Republic Airways. Eve expects deliveries to begin in 2026.
Although Embraer reported a net loss for Q1 2022, they are confident in Eve’s potential. Embraer’s president and CEO, Francisco Gomes Neto, said, “Eve is well positioned to be a global leader by delivering an effective and sustainable new mode of urban transportation. [Eve] plays a key role in our growth strategy driven by innovation and enterprise efficiency.” Eve also shared the gross proceeds generated from the closing of the business combination last week, which amounted to $377 million. These funds will go towards development and certification of Eve’s electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Joby Aviation, the California-based eVTOL developer with a target commercial launch of 2024, published details of their finances in Q1, including a net loss of $62.3 million and $94.3 million in operating expenses. Other details from the company’s Letter to Shareholders included progress in manufacturing most of the large composite parts for Joby’s first production-intent aircraft, and achieving FAA acceptance of 80% of their means of compliance so far.
Based on data from NASA’s testing, Joby’s aircraft demonstrated the low noise targets the company set for itself. The eVTOL aircraft registered the equivalent of 45.2 A-weighted decibels (dBA) from an altitude of 1640 feet (500 meters) at 100 knots airspeed, according to the company. (Photo courtesy of Joby)
Next, Joby’s focus for manufacturing is the tail and wing structural assemblies, and the company’s first design-intent Electric Propulsion Unit is undergoing testing for durability and performance. Joby also shared that NASA testing has confirmed that the acoustic profile of their eVTOL aircraft was in line with their original expectations.
Archer Aviation also released their financial results for the first quarter of 2022. Net loss for Q1 was $59.2 million, and GAAP operating expenses were $65.3 million. Non-GAAP total operating expenses came in at $39.6 million for the quarter. In the Letter to Shareholders, CEO Adam Goldstein stated, “We plan to fly [our eVTOL aircraft] on a routine basis in the second half of this year and quickly progress through more and more advanced flight tests until the aircraft performs a full flight envelope test flight from hover through to wing-borne flight. We remain on-track to complete this first full ‘transition’ flight with Maker in the second half of 2022.”
“The Archer team remains singularly focused on our vision of getting to commercialization as expeditiously as possible.” – Archer’s CEO, Adam Goldstein (Photo courtesy of Archer)
Archer is currently working to complete the G-2 Means of Compliance with the FAA and expects to achieve this by the end of 2022. The company has also started detailed part design in addition to procuring long lead production tooling for their aircraft’s structure.
Archer’s strategic partnerships formed in the first quarter of this year include the Joint eVTOL Advisory Committee, a collaboration with United Airlines. Another important partnership resulted from Archer’s selection of Hexcel to supply the high-performance carbon fiber and resin systems needed to produce the Maker eVTOL aircraft.