Embraer offshoot Eve Urban Mobility is confident of FAA certification for their eVTOL in 2026.
In the company's financial report on the 2022 year, Eve said it was working towards certification from both Brazil's Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC) and the USA's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in three years time.
"We have initiated the certification process of our eVTOL with Brazil’s aviation authority – ANAC, and we expect the validation process for the Type Certification (TC) in Brazil to be followed by the FAA targeting a dual certification and entry into services in 2026," the report states.
"In parallel, we are in discussions with EASA in Europe and other certification authorities. The Brazilian authorities have a long history of collaboration through bi-lateral agreements with other certification authorities – whereby other certification authorities globally accept and validate the majority of work done by ANAC, typically with reduced additional tests.
"We believe this combination puts Eve on a clear path to global certification, particularly when combined with our expertise in certification, simple design solutions and undivided attention from the Brazilian authorities."
Eve said that eVTOL development was proceeding, although there is no public projected date for the first flight of a prototype.
"Our engineers continue to refine our eVTOL design as the program matures. We are leveraging Embraer’s proven development practices, testing subsystems through various methodologies to validate Proofs of Concept (POC) and advance towards full-scale prototype of our commercial vehicle for the certification process.
"Our agile, model-based approach allows us to validate components and airframe features independently or on a systems-basis allowing us to vary configurations as new solutions are identified in a quick and efficient manner."
Eve was recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (EVEX), a move that netted the company $355 million, which, combined with lines of credit, gives the company $455 million in liquidity.
The company reported a loss of $174 million for 2022. It has 470 employees working on the eVTOL and the ecosystem in which it will operate.
Eve currently has non-binding Letters of Interest for 2770 eVTOLs. Australian companies Nautilus Aviation, Sydney Seaplanes and Microflite have all signed eVTOL agreements with Eve.