Volocopter VC200 (defunct)

VC200 (defunct)
Volocopter GmbH
Bruschal, Germany
www.volocopter.com

Volocopter GmbH was founded in 2011 in Karlsruhe, Germany, by Alexander Zosel and Stephen Wolf with the intent of making an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) multicopter aircraft for fast and efficient urban travel. On Oct. 21, 2011, the company made history by making the first crewed flight in the world of a multicopter, named the VC1. The multicopter was flown in southwest Germany by co-founder, primary designer, inventor and builder, Thomas Senkel. The Guinness Book of World Records has the historic flight listed on their website. The company was originally known as "e-volo GmbH" until being renamed to "Volocopter GmbH" in July 2017 and the company is now based in Bruchsal, Germany.

The Volocopter VC200, with 18 non-tilting propellers, made its first uncrewed flight on Nov. 17, 2013. Its first crewed flight was Mar. 30, 2016. Volocopter claimed this as the world’s first two-seat electric VTOL aircraft. The aircraft is designed for up to 100 km/h (54 kt) and demonstrated a speed of 69 km/h (37 kt) in July 2016. The program is supported by Intel’s Ascending Technologies, DG Flugzeugbau GmbH and others.

The Volocopter 2X is a refined next generation version of the VC200, with a limited number of pre-production prototypes now under development for future sale.

Volocopter will be manufacturing the aircraft, running the air taxi service, building Voloports, allow passengers to request a flight through an app, will not be selling their aircraft to individuals and will offer air taxi urban travel at competitive prices. Volocopter stated in November 2019 that the VC1, VC2, VC200 and 2X prototypes have collectively made over 1,000 test flights, including in Dubai and Singapore.

For more information on Volocopter's production aircraft, please see the following aircraft pages:

• Volocopter VoloCity
• Volocopter VoloConnect 
• Volocopter VoloDrone

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL multicopter
• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Cruise speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
• Maximum takeoff weight: 450 kg (992 lb)
• Empty weight: 300 kg (661 lb)
• Maximum payload weight: 150 kg (331 lb)
• Propellers: 18
• Electric motors: 18
• Motor output: 18x 3.9 kW (18 x 5.3 hp)
• Power source: Batteries
• Length of fuselage: 2.9 m (9.5 feet)
• Height: 2 m (6.6 ft)
• Diameter of rotor frame: 9.15 m (31 ft)
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers and motors on the aircraft so if one or more motors or propellers fail, the other working motors and propellers can safely land the aircraft.

Company Insights

• Pitchbook
• Crunchbase
• MarketWatch
• Tracxn

Resources:

• Volocopter website
• Volocopter Facebook
• Volocopter Twitter
• Volocopter YouTube
• Volocopter Wikipedia
• Video: World's first manned flight with an electric multicopter, forschungsbuero, Oct. 28, 2011
• Video: Volocopter VC200 First Flight, forschungsbuero, November 20, 2013
• Video: Dubai's flying taxi – the volocopter – takes first flight, Esquire, Sept. 25, 2017
• Video: The Volocopter 2X. Mobility in the next dimension, Volocopter, Oct. 16, 2017
• Article: The Demand for On-Demand Mobility, Vertiflite, January/February 2017
• Article: Air Mobility Bonanza Beckons Electric VTOL Developers, Vertiflite, March/April 2017
• Article: e-volo’s 2X Ready for Production, eVTOL News, May 2, 2017
• Video: Volocopter’s flying taxi takes off at CES, The Verge, Jan. 8, 2018
• Video: 2018 CES: Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Takes a Volocopter Test, Intel Newsroom, Jan.8, 2018
• Article: Volocopter 2X: An Autonomous Flying Taxi In Flight At CES 2018 In Las Vegas For The First Time, Inquistr, Jan. 8, 2018
• Article: Remote-piloted Volocopter eVTOL Flies Intel CEO, AIN Online, Jan. 9, 2018
• Article: Volocopter presents air taxi services at scale, Volocopter, Apr. 17, 2018
• Article: Mobility of the Future: Fraport and Volocopter Are Developing Airport Infrastructure and Passenger Processes for Air Taxi Services, Volocopter, Feb. 12, 2019
• White Paper: Pioneering The Urban Air Taxi Revolution, 1.0, Volocopter, June 6, 2019
• Article: Volocopter Unveils VoloCity, Its First Production eVTOL, Aviation International News Online, Aug. 21, 2019
• Article: Volocopter reveals design for new Urban Air Mobility aircraft Volocity to become first commercial Volocopter aircraft, Volocopter, Aug. 21, 2019
• Article: Successful integration of piloted air taxi into Air Traffic Management / UTM system, Volocopter, Aug. 30, 2019
• Article: Stuttgart see first urban flight of Volocopter in Europe, Volocopter, Sept. 9, 2019
• Article: World’s First Full-Scale Air Taxi VoloPort Unveiled in Singapore, Volocopter, Oct. 21, 2019
• Article: DB Schenker invests as Volocopter extends Series C Round to € 87 million, Volocopter, Feb. 21, 2020