Need to Get from O’Hare International to Downtown Chicago in 10 Minutes?

• With Stellantis investment and technical expertise, eVTOL startup Archer Aviation plans the largest production facility of its type in Georgia, with plans to start building up to 650 aircraft a year.

• The eVTOL startup has recently completed the first functional prototype of the Midnight craft, preparing it for testing this summer.

• Earlier this year Archer announced its first route, slated to launch between O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Vertiport Chicago.

"It's the year 2000. But where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars! I don't see any flying cars! Why? Why? Why?" to quote Avery Brooks from an IBM commercial filmed at the turn of the century.

It's the year 2023, and flying cars now seem like an artifact from the giddy years before crypto but after electric scooters, just as Tesla was promising transcontinental travel in a scaled up version of your bank drive-through's vacuum tube system.

But flying car projects, despite suffering a few setbacks that have fortunately not seen any kind of high-profile accident, are out of the 3D rendering phase and are firmly in the prototype stage. At least the ones that have made it this far.

Archer Aviation is one of those that have indeed made it this far—thanks in part to Stellantis—and is now building a sprawling, 100-acre site in Covington, Georgia, aimed at high-volume eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) craft production. The automaker has recently increased its stake in the eVTOL startup, ahead of a planned opening quite soon.

"The Stellantis and Archer teams are moving full speed ahead in execution mode to ensure we meet our goal of bringing scalable manufacturing of Archer's aircraft online in mid-2024," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said this month.

Earlier this year Stellantis made its manufacturing base and supply chain available to Archer, in addition to $150 million in capital over the course of two years, giving it a crucial boost at a time when eVTOL mania seems to have cooled from its 2018 heights. In fact, Stellantis had been quietly working with Archer since 2021.

"Stellantis personnel are now embedded across almost all areas of Archer's operations, including manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, quality, facilities, and human resources," the automaker said this month.

Just what they had been working on is the battery-electric Archer Midnight—an eVTOL craft intended for short hops of about 20 miles, and a top range of 100 miles with a pilot and four passengers aboard. While this type of range sounds like it could be covered by products that Stellantis itself has in great number, the automaker is betting this niche form of transportation has a future that dovetails with the wider electrification of the auto industry.

The company completed the first functioning Midnight aircraft in mid-May, intended for testing, including a first flight scheduled for this summer.

"At Archer, our goal is not just to get to commercialization, but to achieve it at scale," said Archer's Founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. "High-volume manufacturing is critical to ensuring we can meet this goal, and joining forces with one of the leading mobility companies in the world is helping us realize the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have to redefine urban transportation."

Just how many eVTOLs is Goldstein talking about?

The company is aiming for capacity to produce up to 650 aircraft each year and plans to dial that up to 2300 a year. That's an ambitious goal, one that anticipates an entire industry popping up in a very short span of time, if not overnight.

Larger questions about the industry remain unanswered, even if the concept of what amounts to a large electric drone is far more palatable to many than a noisy helicopter.

Issues like running costs per hour are expected to be lower than those of helicopters, which haven't really budged for decades as passenger models, for the kinds of routes Archer's eVTOLs could take over. And the routes themselves are still expected to cater to those not wishing to be carried in an Uber or a hired car between small airports. This means northern California's wine country, currently serviced by helos, would be one natural location.

Earlier this year Archer announced its first air taxi route, between O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Vertiport Chicago. But other traditional helicopter routes, including those between Manhattan and the Hamptons, could be just on the edge of the Midnight's 100-mile reach.

Another question concerns not the technology but the viability of the business model behind such an industry, especially when Level 4 robotaxis could become the eVTOL industry's main competitor. If trips in comfy robotaxis, which can be summoned to a curb near you, become affordable for just about everyone, will demand for 20-minute eVTOL rides between two points be able to compete, even when catering to an audience that is used to taking helicopters?

The race between eVTOLs and helicopters might actually be a race between eVTOLs and robotaxis.

Will eVTOL craft be able to edge out traditional helicopters in the coming years? Let us know what you think.