Given its eye-catching appearance, the initial hover flight test of Zeva’s disc-shaped Zero eVTOL prototype on January 9 may well have prompted reports of UFO sightings, but the Washington-state-based start-up will be hoping the maiden liftoff attracts offers of funding. Founder and CEO Stephen Tibbits told FutureFlight that he and his team are urgently seeking to raise at least $50 million to keep the project moving as they aim to expand the flight-test envelope to transition from vertical to horizontal cruise.
According to the Zeva team, the Zero’s blended-wing configuration overcomes what it views as weaknesses in rival eVTOL architectures, avoiding the need to tip the airframe into the wind to achieve forward flight and for lifting propellers to “fight against the down-force created by the relative wind.” By contrast, it says, lift is created in the wing-body when the aircraft initiates forward flight at around a 10-degree angle of attack, improving power efficiency and extending range.
