Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) company Eve Air Mobility and UI Helicopter in South Korea signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cultivate the industry’s ecosystem in South Korea. Through their combined expertise, Eve and UI Helicopter will collaborate to introduce eVTOL technical, operational and ecosystem requirements to the local government and industry in South Korea.
“Advanced air mobility has the potential to reinvent global mobility, particularly in the dense urban areas that need it most,” explained Johann Bordais, CEO of Eve. “We’re proud to share Eve’s resources in technical and ecosystem development with UI Helicopter to develop a technically rigorous AAM infrastructure.”
“South Korea has been a pioneer in laying the groundwork for Urban Air Mobility – establishing a sustainable infrastructure for the industry to flourish is a vital next step,” said UI Helicopter CEO Sungwieh Albert Rim. “With the right technical partner and UI Helicopter’s longstanding relationship with South Korean policymakers, we look forward to unlocking the AAM use cases that most benefit us.”
The collaboration will begin by fielding Eve’s Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market survey to gather initial intelligence supporting this process. The South Korean government has taken significant steps to advance Urban Air Mobility through various initiatives, including the K-UAM Grand Challenge. In addition to Seoul, there exists considerable potential for AAM in rural regions of South Korea, serving as a vital means of enhancing connectivity and stimulating local economies.
Leveraging Eve’s knowledge, UI will harness its local expertise to ensure collaboration and open dialogue with policy leaders as the two parties develop an AAM ecosystem that rigorously incorporates technical best practices and South Korea’s distinct regulatory standards.
ZeroAvia flexible fuel cell test allows expanded UAV capabilities
ZeroAvia announced that its SuperStack Flex highly-customisable LTPEM fuel cell architecture has achieved over 1.0kW/kg specific net power at a full system level, including thermal management system, and has been successfully demonstrated in a 150kW net power configuration for a major customer. The industry leading testing results have been made possible thanks to ZeroAvia’s innovative use of additive manufacturing techniques and will expand UAV/VTOL capabilities of the systems, as well as opening new applications in aerospace and other sectors.
Using selective laser sintering (SLS) powder-bed additive manufacturing processes, ZeroAvia has been able to perform high velocity cycles of design, build and test, and quickly combine typical parts or their functions into new monolithic structures. The key parts in the SuperStack Flex’s balance of plant – Anode, Cathode and Coolant Manifolds, thermal management, humidification and air compression systems – have been reduced from over 200 parts to less than 100, with ~50% weight and volume reductions. Fewer parts mean lighter, more compact, more reliable and less costly systems.
The ZeroAvia SuperStack Flex is a modular fuel cell power generation platform that can be scaled up or down between 100kW and 600kW net total continuous power applications. The lightweight, aviation optimized balance-of-plant, has been developed as a best-fit approach for many Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) with further potential applicability across aerospace and in marine and ground vehicles.
As well as its flexibility for different power requirements, the SuperStack Flex design enables separation of the core systems, meaning it can be highly versatile and efficient to integrate into different airframes, overcoming space constraints. The flexibility of the SuperStack Flex system enables customers to incorporate the technology and accelerate their R&D on fuel cell powered platforms. ZeroAvia’s focus on certification of its fuel cell engines and its traction with the CAA and FAA, provides confidence to customers working towards regulatory approval of their platforms.
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