Dive Brief:
- Joby Aviation plans to invest up to $500 million to build its first air taxi manufacturing plant in Dayton, Ohio, the company announced Monday.
- The facility will build, test and fly all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxis that will be used for commercial passenger flights. It will have capacity to produce 500 aircraft annually.
- Construction of the facility is expected to begin next year and operations are anticipated to come online in 2025, creating up to 2,000 jobs.
Dive Insight:
Joby had been looking at a few states to host its manufacturing operations as it looks to ramp up production, including North Carolina, Michigan and its home state of California, TechCrunch reported last month.
“While we could have made a decision in the first half of the year, we’ve had a remarkable amount of interest in hosting this facility, and so we’ve taken the opportunity to spend some additional time evaluating various sites to ensure we secure the very best long-term solution and incentive package,” Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in an earnings call last month.
Ultimately, Joby chose Ohio, where the company will receive up to $325 million in state and local incentives to support the facility’s development. Additionally, the Department of Energy invited Joby to apply for its Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, which funds projects that support clean energy distribution, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
The new facility will be located at Dayton International Airport, which allows Joby to expand its manufacturing space up to 2 million square feet, according to the release.
Bevirt touted the company’s decision to locate its first factory in Dayton, the birthplace of aviation where brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright brothers flew the first aircraft in 1903 and opened the first airplane factory in 1910.
“We’re building the future of aviation right where it all started, in Dayton, Ohio,” Bevirt said in a statement. “The Wright Brothers harnessed revolutionary technology of their time to open up the skies, and we intend to do the same — this time, bringing quiet and emissions-free flight that we hope will have an equally profound impact on our world.”
Joby plans to use the eVTOL aircraft as part of a global ridesharing network launching in 2025. The network will build on Joby’s work with companies including Delta and Uber, including Joby’s acquisition of the rideshare company’s aerial mobility unit Uber Elevate in 2020. Uber also invested $125 million in the manufacturer and developed a partnership to integrate their services into each business’ app.
And last year, Delta Airlines announced it would invest up to $200 million in Joby as the two companies partnered to integrate the manufacturer’s services into the airline’s customer-facing channels. The deal will allow customers who travel with Delta through New York and Los Angeles to reserve a seat for short-range trips to and from city airports on Joby-operated aircraft.
