(TheConservativeTimes.org) – The dream of aviation began in Dayton, Ohio with the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright. The state has a new dream of electric taxis that fly. These small planes will be capable of taking off and landing vertically. These vehicles are aptly called electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxis. Each eVTOL will be designed to hold a pilot and four passengers. Their purpose is to transport passengers from rooftops and parking garages from place-to-place rising above traffic congestion on city streets.
Each eVTOL will be able to move at up to 200 mph with a range of 100 miles. There are still concerns about how the electric air taxis will be charged and about noise pollution caused by the eVTOLs.
Joby Aviation has been selected to build a manufacturing facility for the air taxis near the Dayton International Airport. This facility will build, test, and fly all eVTOLs that are intended for commercial transportation. The plan is to manufacture at least 500 of the vehicles per year. Officials in Ohio believe this project will create 2000 jobs in the Dayton area.
Delta Air Lines partnered with Joby last year to hopefully provide a service in New York and Los Angeles that would transport customers from their home to the airport using an eVTOL vehicle.
Toyota has been partnering with Joby since 2019 to design and launch their pilot production line in California. Toyota intends to continue working with Joby on the manufacture of the air taxis.
Joby plans to invest $447.5 million into the project. The state of Ohio is contributing $203 million of taxpayer money. A new job creation tax may be considered to raise another $93 million from the state. Another $110 million will be procured through a JobsOhio grant.
Construction of the manufacturing site in Dayton is expected to begin in 2024 with the site fully operational in 2025.
Startup ventures for flying cars have been tried before but have only managed to disappear with their funding. Maybe this time will be different.
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