Akihabara News (Tokyo) — It is becoming increasingly clear that Japan’s emerging eVTOL industry does not intend to “go it alone” as a national effort, but is reaching across borders on joint development, particularly with the United States.
This is not the way the nation’s businesses have approached new technologies in the past. It may be a concession to an emerging lack of confidence in Japan’s ability to assume a world-beating position on its own in a more competitive world.
At this point it appears that there may be no such thing as an entirely “Made in Japan” eVTOL.
SkyDrive, arguably the national champion among eVTOL startups, recently announced that its forthcoming two-seater SD-05 will be powered by the EPiC battery system provided by Utah-based Electric Power Systems.
It’s not as if there aren’t major Japanese battery-makers like Panasonic with which SkyDrive might have turned to as a partner.
Some Japanese eVTOL makers, like Tetra Aviation, have adopted a US-first policy: Tetra is entering the experimental aircraft market in the United States, and only at a later stage is planning to return to the Japan market.
Moreover, we have quite recently learned that A.L.I. Technologies, which has developed Japan’s premier hoverbike–the XTurismo–is planning to change its name and to move its headquarters to the United States.
The leaves only the Honda eVTOL (about which we so far know very little) as a possibility to become an entirely domestically produced aircraft.
It works the other way around too: Japanese engineers and suppliers are involved in some of the most prominent international eVTOL firms.
Aichi Prefecture-based automotive components manufacturer Denso is working with prominent German eVTOL company Lilium to co-develop and manufacture the electric motors that will power the Lilium Jet.
Toyota Motor Corporation is the top investor in Joby Aviation, to the tune of about US$400 million, and the partnership involves other forms of cooperation as well, including manufacturing support.
Again, from the point of view of the more traditional Japanese business practice, one would expect that Toyota’s natural eVTOL partner would be SkyDrive, a company founded by former Toyota engineers.
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