Key Points
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Archer Aviation and Beta Technologies are partnering to provide standardized charging infrastructure for eVTOLs.
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Their CCS standard chargers aren’t compatible with eVTOLs from rival Joby Aviation.
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Joby has its own GEACS charging system, but there are other factors that matter more.
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Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) companies Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) and Beta Technologies (NYSE:BETA) just announced they are partnering with Macquarie Capital to bring standardized eVTOL charging hardware to as many as 250 air taxi sites across the U.S.
The companies dubbed the initiative America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES). They touted their charging standard as having been endorsed by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and “adopted almost uniformly across the industry.”
“Almost uniformly?” That’s right: there’s one major player in the U.S. eVTOL space that doesn’t conform to this standard. And, unsurprisingly, it’s Archer’s big rival Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY).
Here’s what this new charging network is likely to mean for Archer, Beta, Joby, and their shareholders.
A new standard
The Combined Charging Standard (CCS) for electric vehicles is a particular type of plug that allows a vehicle to charge using alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC). It was once the standard for electric vehicle charging in the U.S., but is now being phased out in favor of the North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug, developed by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for use in its Supercharger system.
However, the global aviation consortium GAMA still supports the CCS standard for electric aircraft, believing that having a standardized plug is preferable to having different manufacturers each developing their own non-interoperable plugs.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Joby had to do.
Square plug, round hole
Despite being a GAMA associate member, Joby didn’t design its eVTOLs to work with CCS plugs. Instead, it developed its own standard, the Global Electric Aviation Charging System (GEACS). In 2023, it made the GEACS specifications freely available to other companies in the industry.
There were two good reasons for Joby not to use CCS chargers. The first was that it designed its aircraft with distributed battery packs to provide redundancy for added safety. The GEACS system contains multiple DC channels, allowing for simultaneous charging of multiple battery packs. Archer’s and Beta’s systems concentrate their battery packs in a single location, so they don’t need this extra feature.
The second reason is that Joby’s GEACS includes a coolant exchange system, providing an additional mechanism to prevent the batteries from overheating during charging, which could reduce their lifespan. Archer utilizes an onboard thermal management system made by Honeywell International (NASDAQ:HON) that, in theory, keeps the batteries from overheating. Meanwhile, Beta uses a separate device called a Thermal Management System Cube to cycle coolant through the batteries during recharging.
You snooze, you lose
It’s not surprising that Archer and Beta – which are also both GAMA associate members – would agree to join forces to deploy a type of charger with a plug that their aircraft can use but which their major rival’s cannot.
It also makes sense that Archer and Beta would try to get a head start on deploying their preferred chargers at airports likely to offer eVTOL air taxi service. According to an Archer press release, up to 250 deployments will occur over the next decade at locations “including airports and vertiports in California, Texas, Florida, and New York.”
Would an airport that had already installed Beta’s CCS chargers actually prevent Joby eVTOLs from operating there due to a lack of charging infrastructure? It seems doubtful, but it might cause some headaches for Joby down the road. And of course, there’s no love lost between Archer and Joby at this point.
The takeaway
All the charging infrastructure in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have an aircraft to charge. If Joby can get U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for its eVTOLs to operate before Archer can, it’ll probably be able to dictate its own charging infrastructure installation to airports where it’s providing service. The same is true for Archer if it can beat Joby to the punch.
While the collaboration between Archer and Beta to shut out Joby is a smart move for those two companies, in the long run, it’s going to be FAA approval and then the profitability of their business models that determine whether Archer, Beta, and Joby succeed or fail. Not their charging apparatus.
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John Bromels has positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Honeywell Technologies and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
