Brazil’s Aeronautical Company (Embraer) announced a partnership with Japanese electric motor manufacturer Nidec to create electric horizontal take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, called flying cars.
In a joint statement released on Sunday, the two companies revealed that the joint venture will “develop and manufacture systems” for flying cars “and in the future for other models of air mobility.”
Watch the video and learn more about the agreement announced yesterday between Japan’s Nidec Corporation and Embraer to create a new company called Nidec Aerospace. #EmbraerStories #PAS2023 #SalonduBurget #EmbraeratPAS23 pic.twitter.com/L0uXvHkRQl
– Embraer (@embraer) June 18, 2023
The new company, named Nidec Aerospace, will be presented at the 54th edition of the Paris Air Show, which kicks off today in the French capital and runs through June 25.
Nidec will own a 51% stake and Embraer a 49% stake in the joint venture, which is set to officially open in the second half of 2023, subject to approval by various regulators and the boards of directors of the two companies.
Nidec Aerospace will be based in Saint Louis, in the Midwestern United States, at the headquarters of Nidec Motor Corp, a subsidiary of the Japanese manufacturer, and will be supported by the two companies’ factories in Brazil and Mexico.
In the statement, Embraer president and executive director Francisco Gomes said demand for eVTOL electrical systems is “growing exponentially.”
Nidec Senior Vice President Michael Briggs said the focus on electric aircraft “will make an essential contribution to the World Civil Aviation Organization’s commitment to neutralize carbon emissions by 2050.”
According to the statement, Nidec Aerospace, although not yet officially established, already has the first electrical system customer for the eVTOL, Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Brazil’s Embraer.
Eve intends to develop and build a sustainable urban mobility ecosystem, which includes the eVTOL and its respective service and support network, as well as the entire infrastructure that will support this new form of transportation, including the vertical landing and take-off airports.
In June 2022, Eve signed a letter of intent to supply up to 35 electric aircraft from 2026 to Falcon Aviation Services, which operates in the Middle East and Africa.
Embraer lost 378.4 million reais (about 68.6 million euros) in the first quarter of the year, more than double the amount reported in the same period in 2022, according to its balance sheet published in early May.
In late April, Embraer, the world’s third-largest aircraft manufacturer, signed a memorandum of understanding with several Portuguese airlines to develop Portugal’s defense technology and industrial base.
The Brazilian company operates two factories in the Parque de Indústria Aeronáutica de Évora and is also a shareholder of OGMA — Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal, with 65% of the capital, in Alverca.
Source: DN
