Sterantis to Manufacture Electric VTOL Aircraft Archer
Sterantis will build electric aircraft for California-based Archer Aviation and expand its investment in the company.
The deal, announced at CES in Las Vegas this week, will see Sterantis oversee Archer's planned plant in Covington, Georgia, which will begin manufacturing aircraft in 2024. According to a Sterantis press release, the automaker will be Archer's exclusive manufacturing partner and will provide manufacturing expertise.
The Archer Midnight is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that, according to Archer, has a payload capacity of 1000 pounds and can carry four passengers and a pilot. It has a range of 100 miles, but is optimized for a 20-minute trip with a 10-minute charge in between.
Sterantis has been a "strategic partner" of Archer since 2020 and began investing in the company in 2021; at the CES, the automaker committed to providing an additional $150 million in 2023 and 2024 if Archer meets certain performance targets, the The company confirmed that it will provide $150 million in additional funding in 2023 and 2024. Sterantis also plans to increase its stake in Archer by purchasing shares on the open market.
Several other automakers have expressed interest in eVTOL aircraft. Honda confirmed in 2021 that it is developing such an aircraft, but with a gas turbine range extender instead of an all-electric setup. Hyundai announced its flying cab division in 2021 and in 2022 unveiled a cabin mockup of a proposed flying cab in anticipation of its first flight in 2028. Toyota is backing Joby Aviation, which as of August 2021 had plans to begin eVTOL operations in 2024.
Also at CES, Sterantis showed off the Chrysler division's next-generation cabin technology in the Synthesis Demonstrator, a mockup based on the interior of the Chrysler Airflow Concept shown at the 2022 CES. The demonstrator uses the STLA Brain, STLA SmartCockpit, and STLA AutoDrive software platforms, which were first introduced in late 2021. Sterantis is also showing the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV concept, which previews an electric pickup truck scheduled for release in 2024.
