The Future

Much has been written about new opportunities in electrification for air mobility.  Precious little has been written about safety. When one thinks about the long-term future of regional air mobility, safety is paramount. There will never come a day when safety isn’t an absolute priority for every single passenger or package shipper.  The challenge is daunting as the solutions exist at the intersection of manufacturing, design, materials science, changing weather, human judgment, and more.  Nevertheless, perfection in safety is our goal and top priority at Maxwell.  
 
The cost of operating an aircraft is also a fundamental challenge. There will never come a day when an operator doesn't desire to have lower operational costs.  Aircraft owners know how costly maintenance is, particularly an aircraft out of service. The future of air mobility will depend on schedule reliability.  And nothing is worse for a schedule than unexpected maintenance.  So, low maintenance, highly reliable aircraft is our next priority after safety.

 

Good that electricity cost is already very low compared to aviation fuel, but we know battery life is less than desired, which ultimately is an operating cost.  Multiple battery manufacturers promise greater life in the future, some even with their own recycle and return program.  We expect improvement in this cost metric in the years ahead. 
 
Jeff Bezos noted at the beginning of Amazon, the permanent desire for cost reduction and delivery speed improvement meant they could afford to put a great deal of effort into those subjects over a long period of time.  Maxwell believes building aircraft with ever improving safety and operating cost reduction is a permanent mission focus at Maxwell.

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Aircraft Designed for Manufacturing, Harbors as Airports, and Pilots
 
Elon Musk noted early on at Tesla, the best reliability is achieved by a part whose design eliminates that part. We come from manufacturing backgrounds and know great design must serve manufacturing as well as pilots and passengers.
 
Aircraft operating bases are enormously expensive. Airports are highly regulated spaces, and near populated areas, they will remain costly.  Helping our customers with aircraft that support harbor operations on coasts, lakes, rivers, and island areas will be part of Maxwell’s long-term future.  
 
Fuel, maintenance, and operating bases are all large-cost items, but pilots are too. Remote pilots, and then pilotless operations, will some decade soon, be part of the low-cost air mobility scene.  Maxwell put this future consideration into its software planning and partner discussions from day one. 

 

Our Near-Term Focus
 
The near future at Maxwell will continue to be defined by engineering and partner discussions focused on electrifying the single-motor E Lake and the dual-motor M1. Like Tesla, building its first modified electric sports car, we intend to learn by doing. 
 
The E Lake and M1 are only the first steps for Maxwell. For just 200 lbs. more in electric motor weight, an additional 600 HP (447kW) can be added to the M1, thereby making a four-motor M2 version with almost double the useful load. 
 

The Long Haul

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Improvements in battery technology are sure to come, bringing greater range, greater useful load, faster recharge times, and longer battery life.

 

We also know the new small-diameter high-power electric motors make possible more aerodynamic aircraft designs with quieter ducted fans and blown wings for improved lift. There is enormous effort right now in new aircraft designs for air mobility, particularly with vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Multiple private companies and government programs are testing and demonstrating new configurations based on these new small, high-power electric motors. Maxwell expects to benefit greatly from this research.
 
Third-generation batteries powering a clean sheet design is already planned for Maxwell’s M3, a 14-passenger version that will transform short-haul coastal air transport services.
 
The sky, as they say, is the limit.