Exclusive: U.S. looks to electric aircraft for emergency response
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BETA is installing electric plane chargers in rural areas to help bring health care and disaster relief to remote areas. Photo: Courtesy of BETA Technologies
The federal government is laying the groundwork to test electric air taxis to quickly respond to natural disasters and other public health emergencies in remote areas, Axios is first to report.
Why it matters: Rural areas increasingly lack access to hospitals and other medical facilities — a health care gap that's especially acute after a natural disaster like a hurricane.
- The faster that help can arrive, the more lives can be saved.
Driving the news: The Department of Health & Human Services awarded electric aerospace company BETA Technologies a $20 million contract to install electric aircraft chargers at 22 sites across the East and Gulf coasts.
- The chargers, which could be used for electric vehicles as well as aircraft, will support a pilot effort by HHS' Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to use cutting-edge transportation modes to deliver equipment, medicine, and even patients.
- Chargers are already operational in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas; the newest opened Tuesday at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in Jackson, Miss.
Between the lines: A lack of access to local health care contributes to higher rates of illness and death in many rural areas.
- But it's expensive to transport people using air ambulances. Helicopters are often used but they can't typically fly in bad weather.
Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) have advantages over helicopters because they're cheaper and more efficient.
- Plus, BETA says its high-tech aircraft will be certified to fly solely on instruments, meaning they can fly through clouds.
Yes, but: If power is wiped out in a hurricane, charging stations won't work, so they'll need backup power, like stationary battery storage or generators, as well.
What they're saying: "We expect this work with BETA to give ASPR and other federal partners the ability to get vital materials and equipment to ground zero when other land-based modes of transportation are unavailable," Arlene Joyner, director of ASPR's Office of Industrial Base Management and Supply Chain, said in a statement.
The big picture: The HHS-funded chargers will join the electric charging network BETA is currently building across the U.S. to support a switch to electric aviation.
- BETA already has 31 airport charging stations, with plans to open 50 more along the East and Gulf coasts.
- Other electric aircraft companies, including Archer Aviation, have purchased BETA's chargers, along with the U.S. Department of Defense and public and private airport operators.
- BETA's own electric aircraft, including a conventional fixed-wing plane and a VTOL, will begin flying in 2025 and 2026, pending certification by the Federal Aviation Administration.
What to watch: Under the contract, BETA is studying how to add a "pathogen containment system" for transporting highly contagious patients to hospitals, HHS told Axios.
The bottom line: Electric air taxis could be deployed for life-saving missions, not just to shuttle passengers across traffic-choked cities.
