TechPulse 360

JoeBen Bevirt wants to change the way you commute to work. Really change it.

And he is building the prototype to prove it. His dream is a one-person electric plane that takes off like a helicopter – straight up – and has folding wings so it can fit in a typical parking spot.

JoeBen Bevirt shows of his prototype electric aircraft during a presentation. It will take off like a hovecraft.

The plan is to test the plane this year. The decision on whether it will be a manned flight has not been made.

Bevirt realizes the odds against him are high. Talks with the Federal Aviation Administration have been less than conclusive. The FAA, it seems, believes it has enough trouble just directing the 30,000 or so commercial flights that fly in and out of established airports in the United States every day. How can it conceive of handling hundreds of thousands, or millions, of short, low-altitude trips to and from offices and plants dotted across the countryside?

Nevertheless, Bevirt has taken on challenges before and succeeded. A graduate of Stanford University’s engineering program, he sold his first company – the life sciences robotic start-up Velocity11 – to Agilent Technologies. His second, Joby Inc. is pulling in millions from the popular Gorillapod line of flexible camera tripods it introduced in 2006. Joby Energy of Santa Cruz, CA, his third, is planning its first trial of an airborne wind turbine this year. It hopes to generate low-cost, renewable energy from the steady breezes in the sky.

Bevirt says his latest venture is motivated by the long-nagging human desire to fly, as though with a personal set of wings. The technology, he claims, has finally arrived to make the urge a reality.

That technology he refers to is a light, highly efficient electric motor and a slab of an electric battery to power it. The aircraft, which is about a quarter finished, will weigh just 300 pounds, with 200 pounds of it battery. It will hold a payload about 200 pounds and have a range of 100 miles.

Bevirt expect his invention to be economical. It should cover 100 miles with $1 of electricity. And it should be relatively inexpensive to buy – costing $20,000 to $30,000.

“This is something everyone can have,” says Bevirt. “It’s one of the most agile aircraft ever built.”

Even if it can fly, substantial hurdles await. Convincing government officials and consumers it is safe enough for everyday air travel will be a big task. Bevirt says the craft will have a navigation computer to automatically take off, land and fly, if desired. Still, will it be practical? “It may turn out not to be,” he says. “We’re going to build one and see what’s possible.”