California-based eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft pioneer Joby Aviation (Joby) has added a 2nd pre-production prototype aircraft, which will allow it to accelerate flight testing in 2022.
The company will commence flight trials with the 2nd aircraft later this month as part of its Agility Prime contract with the US Air Force.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said, “Our 2021 flight test programme delivered a wealth of information and experience to support our programme. With two aircraft flying at the same time, we’ll be able to increase the speed of our learnings as planned while continuing to fulfil the requirements of our Agility Prime contract.”
The company’s first pre-production prototype flew more than 8,400km in 2021, generating 65 terabytes of test data. Flight testing with full-scale prototypes commenced in 2017, and more than 1,000 flight tests have been completed to date.
Joby also stated that one of the test flights in which the aircraft flew 247 km on a single charge was the longest flight of an eVTOL aircraft to date.
Joby’s all-electric aircraft will carry four passengers and a pilot, with a planned range of 240 km and a design top speed of 320kmph.