All-electric aircraft developer BETA Technologies is putting the finishing touches on a new assembly facility in its native Vermont we learned about earlier this year. With two impressive electric aircraft in its arsenal working to get certified for commercial flights, BETA is already assembling eVTOLs at its new home. Here’s the latest.
BETA Technologies is a fully integrated electric aircraft and associated systems developer based in Vermont that first caught our eye back in 2021 with its first aircraft – an eVTOL called the ALIA-250 – which garnered an order from UPS for up to 150 units. That aircraft has since been renamed the ALIA VTOL.
BETA is unique in that it develops and tests its aircraft using what it calls “test articles,” operating two prototypes simultaneously to capture twice as much performance data at once. Better still, BETA has been focused on creating viable electric aircraft that support both hovering and wing-borne flight.
Its lineup now also includes an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) plane called the CX300 – now referred to as the ALIA CTOL. As of this past March, the ALIA CTOL had already flown over 22,000 test miles and undergone evaluation flights for FAA certification and is targeting approval in 2025. At that same time, BETA Technologies shared that construction was underway at a new facility in its native Vermont where its electric aircraft would be built.
Today, BETA shared it has opened its door and some production is already underway.
BETA is already building electric aircraft in Vermont
According to an update from BETA this morning, the new facility located at the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport in Vermont has cut the ribbon and officially opened its doors to electric aircraft manufacturing and assembly.
The 188,500-square-foot space is currently undergoing the installation of its assembly tooling and production lines of various adjacent systems such as battery packs(seen above), electric motors, and inverters. When it hits its stride, the facility should eventually be able to produce up to 300 aircraft per year and create hundreds of local jobs. BETA founder and CEO Kyle Clark spoke to today’s milestone:
The team here at BETA is excited to enter the next phase of our growing electric aerospace business. We have worked through research, engineering, prototyping, test flying, initial phases of certification and now we are entering our next important step of starting production, in an inspiring facility. The internal BETA team along with many awesome local contractors, tradespeople and civil servants have challenged each other to create a beautiful, sustainable and functional building for producing the future of aviation. We are incredibly thankful to this community.
The electric aircraft developer also shared that its new facility sits upon a 40-acre site, offering the opportunity for a phase-II buildout in which it can double in size. To date, BETA says it has completed over 500 full-scale, piloted flights using BETA-built battery systems and more in over 10,000 hours testing electric motors produced on its pilot production lines. Its total test miles flown have now exceeded 26,000 miles and a bulk of those distances have been completed with the help of the same parts and systems that should be implemented in the production electric aircraft.
Now open, the South Burlington production facility joins BETA’s R&D headquarters and Maintenance & Training hangar nearby, pilot manufacturing facilities in Williston, and an Advanced Battery Research Center in St. Albans – all in Vermont, although the electric aircraft developer also has footprints in Plattsburgh, New York; Washington, DC; Raleigh, North Carolina; Springfield, Ohio; and Montreal, Canada. You can check out a video of on BETA’s aircraft traveling cross-country last year in the video below.
Author: Scooter Doll
Source: Electrek
