• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Electric Plane Pioneer Pivots to Cargo Drones

Electric Plane Pioneer Pivots to Cargo Drones

Electric plane
Photo: Bloomberg
June 18, 2021
Bloomberg

The man behind the only electric plane cleared to fly quickly discovered the challenges of converting world-leading technology into profits in a hotly contested, futuristic segment of aviation.

Ivo Boscarol, owner of e-plane pioneer Pipistrel, saw a three-year partnership to develop a flying taxi with Uber Technologies Inc. dwindle in 2020, after the ride-hailing giant reined in its aviation ambitions.

He’s since pivoted to building drones to carry heavy freight to remote areas of China. Boscarol says this approach is less daunting from a technical, safety and regulatory standpoint than shuttling live passengers across dense cities in electric vertical takeoff-and-landing craft.

“We’re using the structure and propulsion concept of the urban taxi to enter a cargo market that has fewer restrictions,” Boscarol said in an interview. “It’s an opportunity to capitalize on our development.”

Boscarol’s Slovenia-based company, which began as a hang-glider maker in 1989, managed a feat that hasn’t been accomplished with any other fully electric aircraft. Last June, Pipistrel’s two-seat Velis Electro and its E-811 engine won worldwide type-certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Orders have included a 50-plane deal from France’s Green Aerolease, which supplies trainer planes to pilot schools.

Flying taxis were supposed to be next, but last year Pipistrel backed away from the Uber project, citing slow progress. Uber later sold its air-taxi unit to Joby Aviation.

Next Steps

A key priority for Boscarol was to build on the lead established with his existing products.

April’s deal in China, which has begun to license cargo drones, will see Pipistrel customize its Nuuva V300 model equipped with the same electric motor in a venture with SF Express, the country’s biggest courier firm. SF says it may need 1,000 such craft over the next decade, set to be built at a plant 120 miles east of Shanghai. The factory has been planned since 2016, originally to make non-cargo models.

“We would’ve started production by now if it weren’t for the pandemic,” Boscarol said.

While the coronavirus crisis has delayed completion of a plant, the 65-year-old entrepreneur still expects unmanned cargo craft to comfortably beat autonomous passenger planes into the skies. His experience highlights the hurdles facing flying-taxi firms such as Joby, Lilium GmbH and Archer Aviation, even as funding floods in and commercial alliances take shape.

Funding Rush

Each of those nascent air-taxi firms have secured agreements to go public through so-called blank-check companies, while Brazil’s Embraer SA said last week that it’s in talks about a similar deal for its Eve Urban Air Mobility arm.

The sector is also beginning to garner sales, with United Airlines Holdings Inc. saying it could buy 200 Archer craft and U.K.-based Vertical Aerospace Group last week capturing 1,000 conditional orders from operators including American Airlines Group Inc. and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.

Yet most plans see eVTOLs entering service under the control of a pilot, which will limit capacity on the typically two-to-five seat craft.

Even with a pilot, flying taxis to zip en masse above city streets will require an air-traffic management system built around artificial intelligence, according to Boscarol. Operations in 170 cities worldwide, for example, would put 80,000 craft in the sky in any given minute — a 20-fold increase from traditional planes and helicopter traffic.

Pipistrel’s focus on China could help it ride a global surge in demand for parcel deliveries driven by online purchases.

Range, Payload

The cargo drone will be powered by eight of the E-811 rotors originally built for the Uber air taxis. It’s targeted to carry a 300-kilogram (660-pound) payload for 300 miles, with an internal combustion engine powering a rear-mounted propeller for cruise flight.

The model should have its first flight early in 2022 and enter production in 2023, according to Boscarol.

Pipistrel also makes extreme-endurance surveillance aircraft and aims to develop a 19-seat regional plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells and able to operate from a landing strip of just 400 meters (1,300 feet).

Boscarol said he won’t sell the company, but might consider disposing of a 10% stake to raise at least 100 million euros ($122 million) to fund expansion.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Air Cargo Logistics Transportation & Distribution Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Aerospace & Defense
  • Related Articles

    Maiden Flight for DHL’s First-Ever Fully Electric Plane

    IATA Chooses Swiss WorldCargo to Pioneer Paperless Cargo Processing

    U.K. Is Paving the Way for Electric Planes, Urban Drones

Bloomberg

Global Oil Trade Shakes Up After Fires at U.S. Fuelmakers

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN FARM, WITH WHITE CHICKENS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

    Worst Avian Flu in U.S. History Is Hitting Poultry

    Food & Beverage
  • TWO FINGERS MANIPULATE WOODEN LETTER BLOCKS TO TURN FROM SHOWING THE WORD RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

    Five Challenges to Supply Chain Resilience in 2023

    Supply Chain Visibility
  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing