Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies and Macquarie Capital have formed America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES), a plan to electrify up to 250 air taxi sites across the United States. Over the next decade the consortium will build the standardised charging infrastructure required to scale commercial eVTOL operations in and around major metropolitan areas, including airports and vertiports in California, Texas, Florida and New York.

Beta Technologies will supply purpose-built charging hardware for each site, built on the Combined Charging Standard (CCS), which is endorsed by GAMA and adopted across the industry to allow interoperability between electric aircraft manufacturers. Archer Aviation will anchor the network through its plans to launch passenger VTOL air taxi operations in these cities, giving near-term operational certainty across key metro markets. Macquarie Capital will provide strategic advice to the consortium, including helping to arrange the investment capital needed for site acquisition, development and construction.

The network is intended to support Archer and Beta as selected partners in the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP).

Adam Goldstein, founder and chief executive officer of Archer Aviation, says: “Electric air taxi operations can’t scale without the infrastructure to charge them. We’re putting interoperable chargers in the locations where we plan to fly, including the core eIPP markets, using an industry-adopted charging standard so every operator can share in their usage and distribute the cost across the whole industry.”

Kyle Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Beta Technologies, adds: “By deploying interoperable chargers built on an open standard, we’re putting in place nearly all the physical infrastructure this industry needs, built so every operator can use it.”

The shared infrastructure model allows multiple operators and use cases to run on the same chargers, with Archer using the network for passenger air taxi operations during peak hours and Beta’s customers using it to support cargo and medical transport operations.

At major airports, CCS-compatible chargers will also be made available to airport ground support vehicles. Macquarie Capital brings three decades of infrastructure experience to the consortium, with the aim of creating a template other eVTOL manufacturers and investors could join as the network expands.