Joby Aviation’s production eVTOL prototype flew JFK to Manhattan’s West 30th Street heliport in 15 minutes, the first eVTOL departure from a major NYC airport.
Key Takeaways
The Joby S4 has six tilting propellers, cruises at 200 mph, carries pilot plus four passengers, and can continue flying with two motors out.
Joby claims a 9-mile JFK-to-Midtown route (pending FAA approval) could cut a 1-2 hour commute to seven minutes.
Ten days of NYC demos cover JFK, West 30th Street, East 34th Street, and Downtown Skyport; Archer, Beta, Wisk, and Electra will join Port Authority tests this spring.
Joby is one of eight projects in the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), a three-year real-world campaign across 26 states that could include revenue passenger flights.
Joby acquired Blade Air Mobility’s passenger division with lounges at five NYC sites that served 90,000 people last year, giving it ready infrastructure.
Hacker News Comment Review
The central skepticism is energy density: current lithium cells at roughly 255 Wh/kg fall far short of Jet-A, and the venture thesis implicitly bets battery chemistry catches up before certification costs run out.
Commenters treat the hardware, software, and safety timelines as secondary risks compared to the battery constraint, framing today’s demos as proving regulatory muscle rather than commercial viability.
Notable Comments
@walrus01: argues the whole sector is a bet that batteries reach commercial-grade density by the time eVTOL software and safety systems mature, not that they are there today.
