When will the #tesla e-Airplane (eVTOL) come? 🤔
Elon Musk has said he is “dying” to expand beyond cars and trucks with Tesla and build an electric supersonic jet.

The planes would use vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology to rise to a high altitude, before using battery-powered propulsion to reach speeds in excess of 1,236km/h (768mph).

It is not the first time Mr Musk has spoken of his ambition to design an electric jet, having previously detailed a concept during one of his appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast.

“I have a design for a plane,” he said. “The exciting thing to do would be some kind of electric vertical takeoff and landing, supersonic jet.”

The concept would use two different propulsion systems: one to lift the plane off the crowd and into the sky, the other to propel the craft forward at supersonic speeds.

“The interesting thing about an electric plane is that you want to go as high as possible but you need a certain energy density in the battery pack because you have to overcome gravitational potential energy,” he said.

“Once you’ve overcome gravitational potential energy and you’re at a high altitude, the energy you use in cruise is very low, and then you can recapture a large part of your gravitational potential energy on the way down.

Tesla will most likely get involved in electric aircraft space, says Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst and one of the most popular analysts covering Tesla, argues that the automaker will likely get involved in the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) space.

In a new note to clients, Jonas writes about Tesla potentially getting into urban air mobility and electric aircraft:

In our view, the chance that Tesla does not ultimately offer products and services to the eVTOL/UAM market is remote. The potential skills transferability and network adjacencies are too strong to ignore.

Whatever Elon says, Tesla’s not planning to dominate aviation very soon. A nice idea that is yet to gather speed.

However, if Tesla was going to enter the aviation space, it would be in the battery R&D sector. It has been continually developing and expanding the capabilities of Tesla’s batteries in terms of weight, material innovation, and building out the broader charging infrastructure.

So, could we see Tesla batteries in eVTOLs? Maybe. Could we see specialist Tesla-built charging stations? Possibly.

Even Tesla can’t hurry up the Federal Aviation Authority

We've spoken to several VTOL companies, and getting regulated is a long, slow process. The earliest innovators literally helped write the regulations as their tech began to evolve. They have yet to fly people commercially, let alone cargo.

Further, the R&D issue isn’t just a matter of funds.

We know Musk has plenty of cash, but it’s not so easy to find appropriately skilled staff. Even last year’s Tesla AI day was little more than an effort to attract talented graduates and professionals from other industry players.

Our Take:

Nothing is impossible when it comes to Tesla, but I think Elon’s comment might have been a bit misunderstood.

I think the eVTOL aircraft that he has been talking about was more of a commercial airplane that happens to be electric and has vertical take-off and landing capability.

His comment about what people are trying to do with urban air mobility has been quite clear. I still think that there’s space for that, too, but I am not convinced Tesla would get into that.

Sources:
https://thenextweb.com/news/is....-tesla-getting-into-
https://electrek.co/2021/07/15..../tesla-involved-elec
https://www.independent.co.uk/....space/elon-musk-elec