IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i11p4732-d1407270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing for Urban Air Taxi Services: Key Parameters and Future Transportation Impact

Author

Listed:
  • Yinfei Liu

    (Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China)

  • Chao Gao

    (School of Humanities, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
    School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany)

Abstract

Urban air mobility (UAM) enabled by electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft presents an innovative transportation system for mega-cities. An analysis of the techno-economic feasibility of eVTOL air taxis can provide insights into the development and potential impacts of this emerging mobility solution. This study examines eVTOL configurations and proposes a conceptual model for eVTOL air taxi services. A generic cost–revenue model is developed to evaluate the economic feasibility using the rate of return-on-investment approach. Two critical parameters are identified—maximum voyage and price per kilometer. The modeling analysis shows that eVTOL air taxis can achieve a positive rate of return given realistic assumptions on the critical parameters. Reductions in operating costs and increases in maximum voyage range improve financial viability. With technological advancement, eVTOL air taxis are expected to transform urban transportation by increasing capacity and flexibility. The techno-economic analysis provides useful implications for urban planning and policy regarding this innovative mobility mode.

Suggested Citation

  • Yinfei Liu & Chao Gao, 2024. "Assessing Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing for Urban Air Taxi Services: Key Parameters and Future Transportation Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4732-:d:1407270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4732/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4732/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna Straubinger & Erik T. Verhoef & Henri L.F. de Groot, 2021. "Will urban air mobility fly? The efficiency and distributional impacts of UAM in different urban spatial structures," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-021/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Palanichamy Naveen & Mary Posonia Antony & Balaji Venkatesalu Ramasamy & Dipak Kumar Sah & Rajagopal Maheswar, 2024. "Unlocking the Potential: How Flying Taxis Will Shape the Future of Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-56, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Straubinger, Anna & de Groot, Henri L.F. & Verhoef, Erik T., 2023. "E-commerce, delivery drones and their impact on cities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    2. Samadzad, Mahdi & Ansari, Fatemeh & Afshari Moez, Mohammad Amin, 2024. "Who will board urban air taxis? An analysis of advanced air mobility demand and value of travel time for business, airport access, and regional tourism trips in Iran," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4732-:d:1407270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.