There are more solutions than obstacles, Nicolas Zart
If you’ve been following our series on Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), you can skip to the next section, What is a Vertiport? Part 2.
If not, and if terms like AAM, Urban Air Mobility (UAM), electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), and vertiports with their respective acronyms confuse you, then you’re in the right place.
As a consultant and journalist with 20 years of experience in the electric mobility industries, I’ve had a front-row seat to this once-in-a-lifetime mobility revolution we call the electric drive. While electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly common on the road, electric aircraft are about to surprise you even more.
Would you believe they’re already flying? Would you believe I’ve seen several take to the skies, and we’re working on their infrastructure? The Joby S4 eVTOL, pictured above, is just one example of the many innovative aircraft being developed.
What is a Vertiport? Part 2
In our previous article, we explored the general differences between a vertistop, vertiport, and vertihub, and lightly touched on their operations. Today, we’ll dive deeper into the four pillars of a vertiport: energy, vertipad/eSTOL port, air traffic management, and terminals.
The Four Pillars of a Vertiport
A vertiport is an urban air mobility (UAM) and regional air mobility infrastructure that goes beyond a traditional heliport. It includes electricity, hydrogen, and liquid aircraft fuel, adding another layer of complexity to air traffic management. This management system considers conventional forms of aerial mobility, such as commercial airspace, private, first responder, military, and law enforcement traffic, including autonomous drones and piloted eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft.
The Vertiport Energy Equation
A mobility hub that includes electricity, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), and hydrogen means safety and security are paramount. These three energy sources don’t play well together and must be kept safe from one another at all times.
Since eVTOLs will predominantly use electricity as their main mode of energy, fast-charging stations that handle at least 480 Vac, 400 to 700 Amps are used, up to 1,000 V. The next generation of chargers will handle even higher voltage and amperage. Normal chargers designed to recharge aircraft overnight without taxing the battery packs handle 20–60 Amps, anywhere from 30 to 40 kW, up to 1,000 V.
In addition to electricity, hydrogen stations will create and store hydrogen. Our solutions are the size of an international shipping container and are rated anywhere from 2 to 5 MW. Since we’re creating hydrogen, we’re also storing it to refuel hybrid eVTOLs or converting it to electricity.
Vertiports are more than just mobility hubs – they’re also energy hubs acting as smart grids and load-balancing energy for the grid.
We’ve stressed the importance of vertiport owners, operators, and designers working hand-in-hand with local utilities to provide energy when the grid is taxed. With the increasing demand for data centers and consumer energy, vertiports can serve as energy load-balancing systems. At Electric Air Mobility, we’re exploring innovative solutions to make our vertiports smart-grid friendly and keeping tabs on the nuclear rebirth now in its 4th generation. Developments in small modular reactors (SMR) and molten salt reactor (MSR) technology, as well as micro-reactors (MR), are making our intent energy-intensive operations a future reality.
Vertiport Air Traffic Management
While this is an overview article, we’ll touch on the highly complex topic of vertiport air traffic management. Compared to conventional air traffic management at airports and heliports, vertiports need to handle conventional air traffic, passenger aircraft, and drones – both piloted and autonomous – in the next few years. This complexity requires working with conventional air traffic systems managed by the FAA in the US and EASA in Europe, as well as local air traffic management bodies.
The elegance of vertiports lies in using drones for cargo traffic and feeding live data on traffic situations. These drones also can deliver the last miles of cargo and will feed live da manage and integrate both conventional and new traffic, as well as support fire prevention and management, law enforcement, and the military.
Vertiport Vertipad and eSTOL Ports
These beautiful eVTOLs and eSTOLs will need to take off and land. Vertipads are modernized helipads that can handle the heavier weights of eVTOLs. There are currently two types of vertipads developed, static and smart. The first is best suited for vertistops with on-and-off traffic, where eVTOLs will land and take off quickly. Smart vertipads have sensors that communicate with the aircraft, providing vertiports with a checklist before flights. These smart vertipads are essential for raising safety and lowering insurance costs.
eSTOL ports are not new and only used in a military environment. As AAM begins to operate, eSTOLs will be the first to be certified, due to their familiarity with certification bodies and their inherent design that are closer to airplanes than multi-rotor aircraft. There is less to certify and test in an eSTOL than in an eVTOL.
We see eSTOLs as the perfect first AAM traffic aircraft, perhaps taking on the last few miles of cargo delivery and early passenger routes while eVTOLs get certified. This is why making our vertiports eSTOL port hybrids is important. Not only do we get a head start on operations by flying eSTOLs a year or two earlier, but an eSTOL port can accommodate a few vertipads on a single runway, allowing for wider FATO (Final Approach and Takeoff) areas and bigger 30 to 40 seat eVTOLs. You can read about FATOs and TLOFs here.
Vertiport Terminals Uniqueness
Vertiport terminal design differs from those of airports and heliports in several ways. While vertistops will probably have no terminal, they will have protection from the environment. Vertiports particularly vertihubs will boast terminals designed to give passengers an excellent experience (UX). We’ve partnered with a prominent AAM architecture company and SCAD students to design a unique flow and feel in those terminals.
Vertiport terminals should reflect their local delicacies and unique food. It’s conceivable to have locally crafted coffees and teas, both hot and cold drinks, and local food. The Long Beach airport in California is a good example of a modern positive experience. Today, as you step off the airplanes, you’re greeted with Sheldrake’s coffee and Sweet Jills cookies. The airport displays a modern look and feel, showing the airplanes taxiing, waiting to take you away while you grab your last coffee and cookie. Behind the modern front lies the old 1940s airport where Douglas’ airplanes flew and were tested. It’s this seamless marriage of traditions and a modern feel and look that we’re developing today.
How Vertiports Shape Our Mobility Future
Bringing all of these four pillars, air traffic management, energy management, vertipad data, and terminal flow, and understanding the data around operations requires serious computing. While artificial intelligence (AI) is painted as the revolutionary solution to everything, at Electric Air Mobility, we see it as a tool to help us with data prediction. AI helps estimate the amount of energy needed the following day, how much to keep in reserve, and how much can be sent to the grid, as well as help with efficient route estimations working with our weather solution partners offering us optimal flight conditions.
There you go! You should be able to carry an educated conversation at a party and dazzle others with your advanced air mobility knowledge. Please remember you learned it here as you share what we do to build tomorrow’s more efficient, cleaner, and safer aviation at Electric Air Mobility!
