AIR Partners with Nidec to Develop Customized eVTOL Motor for AIR ONE Production Model

PublishTime： 2024-02-27 Article Source：Nidec News

The collaborative R&D will enable significant industry advancement, building one of the first motors designed specifically for mid-sized eVTOL aircraft.

AIR, creator of eVTOLs for the consumer market, today announced its partnership with Nidec Motor Corporation, a leading manufacturer of commercial, industrial, and appliance motors and controls, to develop the motor for the production model of AIR’s two-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft, AIR ONE. The two companies will design and develop a motor specifically for mid-sized eVTOL aircraft, ultimately filling a void in the burgeoning AAM (advanced air mobility) industry.

“AIR ONE”

This collaboration marks a significant step towards the future of aviation and the mass production of consumer eVTOL aircraft for the very first time. Nidec, an industry veteran of fifty years and among the world’s largest electric motor manufacturers, will work with AIR to develop an efficient motor customized to support the single-charge journeys of up to 100 miles that AIR ONE offers. Funded by the BIRD Energy program of the BIRD Foundation (Israel-U.S Binational Industrial R&D Foundation) to support innovative joint clean energy U.S.-Israel collaborations, the resulting enhanced-efficiency motor will be incorporated into AIR ONE’s continued flight testing and eventually into AIR’s production practices.

“The motor represents the heart of any vehicle. It’s thrilling to partner with Nidec, a pillar of market excellence, to advance the production of AIR ONE,” said Rani Plaut, CEO and co-founder of AIR. “Not only does this partnership represent a major turning point for the AAM industry as a whole, but it also specifically paves the way to fulfilling AIR’s mission and the dream of personal flight.”

“We’re excited to merge Nidec’s motor expertise and global manufacturing capabilities with AIR’s revolutionary eVTOL to deliver advanced motor capabilities to the individual consumers who wish to fly,” said Vincent Braley, CEO of Nidec Aerospace. “Nidec’s uncompromising quality standards and technical capabilities have been trusted implicitly for decades throughout industries, and we’re ecstatic to create an aerospace centric motor, designed for safety, that AIR ONE customers know they’ll be able to depend on.”

The partnership is the latest milestone for AIR, which announced its participation in the U.S. Air Force’s prestigious AFWERX Agility Prime program last month to drive flight testing and additional eVTOL R&D efforts in the United States. Previous full-scale, full-weight flight tests, including hover-to-cruise and cruiseto-hover transitions, prove AIR’s status as an industry leader, flying ahead of the curve on these milestones. With over 1,000 AIR ONE vehicles reserved via preorder and a waiting list, AIR plans to deliver the first batch of aircraft to consumers following aircraft certification.

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