Stellantis is helping to build this 100-mile range eVTOL

We know, we know… car manufacturer makes electric aircraft pledge with sus-looking timeframe. We’ve been here before. A lot. Nonetheless, feast your eyes on the Archer Midnight, which is getting $150 million in support from Stellantis.

Archer, you see, is an aviation company based in California (of course), and having been founded in 2018 the plan is to begin manufacturing the Midnight eVTOL - its first production vehicle - at a plant in Georgia sometime in 2024. Not far away then.

The Midnight contains six independent battery packs for a range of around 100 miles, with a 10-minute charge time making it ideal for short-haul trips with quick turnarounds.

The top speed is around 150mph and it’ll seat four passengers (plus a pilot, obviously), while it’ll take a payload of just over 450kg too. Ideal for nearby island-hopping, perhaps?

Having shared ties with Archer since 2020, Stellantis is so impressed with the firm’s progress (a prototype achieved its first vertical-take-off-to-full-flight test late last year) it’s decided to inject funds and provide its own manufacturing expertise and personnel to help get the Midnight off the ground. Not the first time we’ve used that pun, probably won’t be the last…

“We’ve been working closely with Archer for the past two years, and I am continually impressed by their ingenuity and unwavering commitment to deliver,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO. “Deepening our partnership with Archer as a strategic investor with plans for growing our shareholding demonstrates how Stellantis is pushing the boundaries to provide sustainable freedom of mobility, from the road to the sky.

“Supporting Archer with our manufacturing expertise is another example of how Stellantis will lead the way the world moves.”

How long before we see the tech move into the Aircross range, do you reckon?