Beta is one of a growing number of companies working to build small electric planes that can carry multiple passengers or small loads over short distances. Many of these planes belong to a class of vehicles called eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing), designed to take off and land without conventional runways.
“We’re trying to create a sustainable future for aviation, and that’s a lofty, ambitious goal,” said Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of Beta. The company has largely focused on cargo delivery, raising more than $800 million in funding and securing orders for its eVTOL aircraft from companies like UPS, Blade and Air New Zealand.
Aviation now accounts for around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the industry’s contribution to climate change continues to grow. Electric planes could help reduce emissions, but technical and regulatory hurdles still loom for the industry, which is one reason Beta is starting with planes that behave less like air taxis and more like …well, airplanes.
Beta isn’t abandoning its plans for an eVTOL, but it does plan to certify a more conventional aircraft called the CX300 first, which will need to take off and land on a runway. The company has flown this type of aircraft in test flights totaling more than 22,000 miles, both near its base in Vermont and on treks across the country: it’s traveled to Arkansas (a journey of approximately 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers) and Kentucky (800 miles or 1,200 kilometers) on separate occasions. These longer trips require stops along the way to recharge the battery, but Beta’s aircraft traveled up to 386 miles on a single charge.
BETA
Beta’s approach is to pursue electric flight “in an extremely pragmatic way, and in a way that doesn’t require three or four miracles to happen at once,” Clark says, referring to both the challenges techniques facing next-generation electric aircraft and upcoming regulatory hurdles for the industry.
Several of the largest eVTOL startups have announced plans to enter commercial service in 2025. These plans are dependent on obtaining approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, the civil aviation regulator in the United States. . “Safety will dictate the certification schedule, but we could see these planes in the skies by 2024 or 2025,” the FAA said in an emailed statement.
New eVTOL aircraft will be subject to a different FAA certification framework than conventional aircraft. Because of this special process, some industry members doubt that the agency or companies will be able to meet the advertised deadlines.
Beta plans to certify its eVTOL aircraft for service in 2026. Others say the agency could take until later in the decade to issue approvals. “It’s going to take longer in terms of certification, probably 2027 or 2028,” says Matthieu Clarke, postdoctoral fellow in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. “These conventional electric planes will take off first. »
