MARINA – Joby Aviation signed an agreement recently that would see the first electric air taxi charger installed at a California airport in anticipation of air taxi service in the greater Los Angeles area.
Joby has been developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service and signed a definitive agreement with Clay Lacy Aviation to install the charger at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. In a press release from earlier this week, Joby announced the agreement and said the installation of electrical infrastructure to support Joby’s Global Electric Aviation Charging System comes as part of Clay Lacy’s planned $100 million redevelopment of its fixed-based operator terminal at Orange County airport, targeting completion by mid-2025.
Joby’s Global Electric Aviation Charging System charging interface has already been in use at Joby’s flight test center in Marina, and at Edwards Air Force Base, supporting its operation of all electric aircraft under development including Joby’s quiet, emissions-free air taxi.
Joby Aviation has been doing business in Marina for more than five years building and testing its electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles for commercial passenger service. Its aircraft is designed to transport a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph, with a maximum range of 100 miles and a revolutionary quiet noise profile. The company plans to operate these aircraft as part of aerial ridesharing networks in cities and communities around the world, starting in 2025, building on partnerships it has developed with Delta and Uber.
At an event at its Marina facility in October 2022, Joby announced its partnership with Delta Air Lines to deliver home-to-airport transportation service to Delta customers starting with those in New York and Los Angeles. The commercial passenger operations would have a goal to integrate a Joby-operated service into Delta’s customer-facing channels to provide an opportunity to reserve a seat for a seamless booking, zero-operating-emission, short-range, time-saving journey to and from city airports.
“(Monday’s) announcement marks a key moment on the path to delivering our air taxi service in the greater Los Angeles area,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, in the release. “We’re taking concrete steps to ensure the right infrastructure is in place to support our future service and we’re grateful to be working with an industry pioneer like Clay Lacy Aviation to lead the way on bringing sustainable aviation to Southern California.
“The charging technology we have developed is optimized to support our whole industry, from air taxis delivering short range city flights to more conventional electric aircraft flying longer distances. Joby made the specifications for the universal charging interface freely available to the wider industry in November 2023, to help accelerate the transition to clean flight. We’re therefore very pleased to see it being adopted in this key market,” he added.
Joby currently has about 400 employees at the company’s manufacturing and flight testing facilities in Marina – one of three Joby sites in California with others in Santa Cruz, where the company is headquartered, and San Carlos.
In September, about six months ahead of schedule, Joby Aviation delivered its first aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft was the first built on Joby’s Pilot Production Line in Marina and is believed to be the first delivery of an electric air taxi in the United States.
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As part of Joby’s up to $131 million AFWERX Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force, the aircraft has begun flying at Edwards Air Force Base and is the first electric air taxi to be stationed on a U.S. military base.
AFWERX, Air Force Work Project, is a technology directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force, to accelerate agile and affordable capability transitions by teaming innovative technology developers with Airman and Guardian talent.
The aircraft that was built in Marina will be stationed at Edwards Air Force Base for at least the next year, with charging and ground support equipment provided by Joby at the base site in a facility built by the Air Force for joint flight test operation purposes.
The installation of a charger at John Wayne Airport will establish the site as a node in Joby’s Southern California air taxi network, which is expected to be one of the first networks to launch in the U.S.
Clay Lacy’s all-new fixed-based operator development at John Wayne Airport in Orange County is expected to be the first in the world to be Gold-certified by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.
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