BETA Technologies is a Vermont-based aerospace manufacturer founded in 2017. It is developing electric aircraft for the cargo, medical, passenger, and military industries. Its product portfolio currently includes ALIA CTOL, a battery-powered fixed-wing aircraft, and ALIA VTOL, an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
When you first launched BETA Technologies in 2017, what exactly was the problem you hoped to solve?
My path was unique; playing hockey got me into Harvard, where I studied material science and applied maths. After getting drafted, I used my signing bonus to pay for my first flight lessons because although I was always interested in aviation, I couldn’t afford it until then. After a few years of playing hockey, I returned to college and completed my senior thesis on flight controls and aircraft design. I then created the Beta Air and developed fluid scale models and a full-motion simulator to test it.
I pitched the business idea until 2017 when I met Martine Rothblatt, founder of SiriusXM and United Therapeutics. She saw potential in batteries and electric flight to develop an eVTOL aircraft for organ and tissue distribution. We struck a deal to “elicit critical thinking in electric aviation,” after assembling a small group we had an electric aircraft flying within 10 months. As a result, we secured a $46 million contract to build a commercial eVTOL aircraft named ALIA. Our achievements, including flying further distances and conducting more flights than anyone else, drew attention from the U.S. Air Force, UPS, and Bristow. It allowed us to secure substantial contracts and funding, which led to our Series A equity financing in 2021, raising $376 million.
There has been much excitement around eVTOLs in recent years, but many companies quickly spend substantial portions of funding on R&D. How do you ensure that BETA will be one of the last eVTOL companies standing?
It's true - incorporating the latest technology and complex systems makes certification and deployment expensive. We avoid these pitfalls by making pragmatic choices that keep costs low. For example, we don’t use thrust vectoring or convoluted flight control algorithms.
One thing customers love about BETA is that for each flight we do, it costs us $15-$17 to charge the aircraft with electricity. If you filled up a gas-powered or diesel-powered plane, it would cost $600 to $700 for the same mission, which is 40 times the energy cost. We've advanced further down the certification path, opened a production facility, and gained more firm customers than many competitors. We've also remained private to make long-term decisions without the pressure of public shareholders, allowing us to adapt and change direction as needed.
What are the main challenges you face in 2024 in bringing a BETA aircraft to market?
Our biggest challenge is receiving parts on time. While we're vertically integrated, some components come from legacy aerospace suppliers that don't work on our timeline. Traditional aerospace supply chains work on quarterly or annual cycles, while we operate on weekly or monthly cycles.
To overcome this, we've had to insource many components and redesign parts. For example, a critical structural box for our aircraft had a 52-week lead time. We placed the order but simultaneously redesigned and built it internally, completing it much faster. Our strategy involves keeping the aircraft simple, insourcing critical components, and maintaining control over our supply chain by pre-purchasing essential items like batteries and semiconductors.
You have longer-term ambitions to expand to passenger services. What does your roadmap look like over the next few years?
Our initial certification will be for cargo only, followed by a certificate for passenger service. Since the rail system for cargo is identical to that for seats, we are well-prepared to transition to passenger integration without any setbacks.
Our primary focus is regional feeder fleets for cargo, moving materials from domestic ports to customer sites. This involves short-range, high-value logistics flights, which we can displace at a fraction of the cost compared to current turboprop aircraft. In about 9-12 months after launching our cargo aircraft, we plan to launch our passenger aircraft.
You’ve previously stated: 'You can't be a good electrical engineer unless you have generated enough empathy for the people using the product.' How exactly do you embed empathy for the end-user into the design of your products?
Empathy for the users means understanding their needs and challenges firsthand. This involves flying with them, listening to their issues, and addressing their concerns in our designs. For example, Dan Wolfe, the founder of Cape Air emphasised the importance of dual control side-by-side seating for training first officers, so we incorporated these features based on his feedback. We also fly missions ourselves, like the UPS routes out of Manchester, to understand real-world operating conditions and make informed design decisions.
I flight-test our aircraft myself and we have 400 pilots within the business. We offer free pilot training to everybody at BETA and their families. This is expensive, but this first-hand experience is crucial. In my mind, you cannot have someone designing or selling planes who doesn’t know how to fly or maintain an aircraft.
When you consider the industry's future, do you foresee any limitations to the prospect of electric aviation at BETA Technologies?
Electric aviation today isn't suited for every mission, but it's ideal for many, particularly those under 500 miles. Our eVTOLs will initially focus on cargo, logistics, and military due to lower barriers to entry, followed by passenger missions in more accommodating cities. Over time, the technology will evolve to carry more passengers, with prototypes for larger aircraft expected by the end of this decade and certifications early next decade.
By 2035 to 2040, electric aircraft are expected to carry up to 200 people using advanced energy storage. This evolution hinges on having reliable propulsion, inverters, and flight controls, which BETA is independently certifying. Current capabilities include a range of 336 nautical miles on a single charge, carrying about a ton. Continuous improvements are expected to increase the range by 8-10% annually, capturing a larger market share over time. Companies like Amazon and UPS are investing in innovative solutions beyond eVTOLs, creating significant growth opportunities in the broader electric aviation sector.
