Urban air mobility startup Volocopter is finding additional ways to expand uses for its battery-powered craft beyond its principal air taxi services, most recently through a new deal concluded with fellow German organization ADAC Luftrettung to deploy the planes in emergency medical response.
Volocopter made the announcement amid opening activities of the 2023 Paris Air Show. It said the agreement calls for ADAC Luftrettung to purchase two Volocopter VoloCity air taxis, and carries an option to buy another 150. The initial pair will be used to test ways the next-generation planes can be deployed in future emergency medical and rescue operations.
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ADAC Luftrettung, one of the largest first responder organizations in Europe, has worked with Volocopter on potential deployment of its nominal air taxis for emergency medical deployment since 2018. It initially put in a reservation for the first two craft in 2020, and this week confirmed those as hard purchases while putting in an option for the additional 150 aircraft.
Volocopter said plans are for ADAC Luftrettung to begin testing the emergency medical use sometime next year, when VoloCity is expected to receive European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification.
Repurposing of the air taxis for rescue missions is another step in Bruchsal-based Volocopter’s efforts to diversify uses of its aircraft. The company is also developing a longer-range VoloRegion plane, as well as its heavy-lift cargo VoloDrone.
ADAC Luftrettung CEO Frédéric Bruder said the piloted, limited-size and -distance VoloCity craft will be used to rush an emergency physician to accident sites as an additional, sustainable transport asset to traditional rescue helicopters rather than replacements.
But the objective, he added, is for quiet, battery-powered electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis to gradually take over from more expensive, fuel burning choppers.
“With higher ranges and operational speeds as well as significantly more payload of the next generation of eVTOLs, we can put the benefits for emergency care into practice – and fulfill our statutory mission to further develop the rescue service from the air with pioneering innovations,” Bruder said. “From the very beginning, we have been convinced that these aircraft can also shape and improve the rescue service of the future.”
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Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke noted his satisfaction at the company’s efforts to multiply the applications of its air taxis in finding an early partner with the leading domestic and European operator of critical emergency medical and rescue services.
“There is no better way to start Volocopter eVTOL operations in Germany than by saving lives,” Hoke said. “ADAC Luftrettung is the leading European rescue service with highly trained pilots and successful missions who believe in us to create a better future together. We have proven the emergency rescue use case works in theory, now we are concentrating on the delivery and execution to start EMS operations in Germany in 2024.”
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