Plana (CEO Kim Jae-hyung) announced that it will participate in the ‘4 World IT Show (WIS 19)’ to be held at COEX in Seoul from Wednesday, April 21 to Friday, April 2023.
Plana is a company that develops and manufactures electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that anyone can easily access, based on the slogan ‘Design a New Sky’. The company emphasized that it boasts strong manpower as it is currently developing aircraft with employees with diverse experience in the world’s leading aviation and automobile mobility industries, including Airbus, Collins Aerospace, Kai, Hyundai Motor Company, and Rolls-Royce. The goal is to commercialize AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) aircraft, which encompasses UAM (Urban Air Mobility) and RAM (Regional Air Mobility), in 2028.
As interest in next-generation mobility technology has recently increased, Plana plans to publicize its innovative aircraft design technology and vision through this exhibition and share the growth potential and social value of the next-generation air mobility market. In addition, we plan to strengthen our cooperative relationship with the IT industry.
Plana officials said, “Our aircraft is different from eVTOL, which is currently introduced as UAM and operates on pure electric batteries and can fly 150 to 200 km. “It is a hybrid eVTOL that uses next-generation aviation fuel (SAF, Sustainable Aviation Fuel), can be easily refueled without a separate charging infrastructure, and can fly 500 km.”
In addition, unlike electric vehicles, the batteries used in eVTOL are exposed to various environments such as frequent fast charging and rapid temperature changes. Plana’s hybrid drivetrain has the characteristics of reducing the burden on the battery, maintaining its condition consistently, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring safety. Regarding this, an official said, “This is because it is theoretically impossible for aircraft using only batteries to fly more than 500km even if battery performance improves. Additionally, if the capacity of the battery is increased, the number of passengers or payload will be relatively reduced. “For this reason, Plana is developing a hybrid drivetrain based on a turbo generator that is most optimized for AAM.”
Recently, Plana established local corporations in Silicon Valley and Irvine, USA. This is to cooperate closely with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification authority for the AAM aircraft currently under development and to advance into global markets, including the United States. In addition, MOUs were signed with Volatus Infrastructure, a Vertiport developer in the U.S., and Skyscape Japan in Japan. In addition, last year, a letter of intent (LOI) was signed with a US airline for 20 units. In addition, we plan to continue various activities targeting Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
An official said, “In order to commercialize AAM, collaborative relationships are needed with various companies, including aircraft development, the flight system that controls all processes from flight preparation to completion, Vertiport, a vertical takeoff and landing airfield, and communication networks.” “Plana has recently established a cooperation system with various companies such as LG U+ and Jeju Air, and is preparing various partnerships to create an AAM ecosystem. Additionally, a 1/5 scale scale aircraft is currently being built and tested, and a full prototype model will be built and begin flight procedures in 2025. In addition, we plan to participate in the Grand Challenge demonstration project conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the second half of this year,” he said of his future business plans.
Meanwhile, the ‘World IT Show’, a one-stop platform for digital transformation, is a representative exhibition leading the next-generation high-tech industry. The 2023 World IT Show, with the slogan ‘Changing our life, K-Digital’, will feature △AI, IoT & ICT convergence services △Digital Twin & Metaverse △Smart Living and Healthcare △Robotics The latest technologies and products in the fields of △future mobility such as autonomous driving and UAM, and △blockchain & security will be displayed and introduced. In addition, the ‘WIS 2023 Innovation Award’ and the ‘2023 Korea ImpaCT-ech Grand Prize’ will be awarded to the technologies and products that attract the most attention among participating companies.