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Stellantis is expanding its partnership with Archer Aviation to build the Midnight, an electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft.
The aircraft is optimized for trips of about 20 miles and has a range of up to 100 miles. The charging time between trips is about 10 minutes.
Stellantis is providing up to $150 million in equity capital for Archer to draw down this year and next. But Archer will need to achieve certain business milestones to tap the funds, which Stellantis declined to reveal. Stellantis will support Archer’s recently announced manufacturing facility in Covington, Ga., that will begin building Midnight in 2024.
Stellantis brings advanced manufacturing technology and expertise, experienced personnel and capital to the partnership.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says the automaker is all about the “freedom of mobility,” so the Archer relationship aligns with this thinking. Tavares sees a need for air transport in urban settings, and that freedom of mobility is at risk in the Western world.
“Mobility may be expressed in different ways,” Tavares told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not only about cars, [it] may be about aircrafts, [it] may be about something else. Anything that relates to giving breathing space to the citizens, giving them the sense that they are free to move in a safe, cost-competitive way from A to B at their leisure when they decide to do it is the reason why we exist. That’s why we we found this partnership such a natural one.”
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, before its 2021 merger with PSA Group that created Stellantis, had an agreement that allowed Archer to take advantage of the automaker’s supply chain, composite material capabilities, and engineering and design experience. Stellantis first became an Archer investor in 2021.
Stellantis said it intends to increase its strategic shareholding through future purchases of Archer stock in the open market.
The plan is for Stellantis to mass produce Archer’s eVTOL aircraft as its exclusive contract manufacturer. The Midnight is slated to carry a payload of1,000 pounds, or about four passengers and a pilot.
Archer is targeting price points for short flights that are similar to ride-share trips in cars.
“We are about freedom. We believe that if we don’t bring those solutions to the societies in which we operate, then there will be a big vacuum,” Tavares said. “And, frankly, from a political standpoint, I believe that modern democracies cannot survive if they don’t protect the freedom of mobility of their citizens.”