With the world constantly progressing towards a better future, many have invented new things to help improve our lives. Several companies have built electric or hybrid vehicles that are more fuel-efficient, but what about other forms of transportation?

Archer Aviation has been building all-electric air taxis to make air travel safer, sustainable, and less noisy. Archer is actively working with the FAA, as well as other global aviation authorities, for them to be able to begin operating their aircraft commercially.  One of their aircraft, the Midnight aircraft, is equipped with 12 electric engines and 6 independent battery packs which makes it able to safely complete a flight if any of the engines or battery pack shuts down at any point in the duration of the flight.

Although this is an effective way to ensure safety during flight, it is not an efficient way of flying. The added payload of the extra electric engines and battery packs is less cost-effective because they are carrying more weight than they are getting paid to. It is important to implement extra safety measures, especially on something that has only been recently created, but overall these planes are not more efficient than the aircraft we use regularly.  Many companies over the last few decades have attempted to perfect all-electric aircraft and figure out ways to use them consistently to help better the environment, but all have run into problems with it.

Archer Aircraft has come very close to accomplishing this but hasn’t made it efficient enough to be put into commercial use.  These aircraft also have very limited range and can only be in flight for short distances.  Archer planes have a maximum range of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) on a single charge, which means they will only be able to fly from one city to another before having to recharge again.  Once they work out these issues with the efficiency of these electric air taxis, they will be much better for the company, the environment, and the future.