It is among the longest flights by an electric aircraft.
The company, which is backed by Toyota and recently acquired Uber’s flying taxi division, has said that it plans to have a full-scale air taxi service in operation by 2024, including regional trips. The point of the 150-mile flight was to demonstrate how far its aircraft could fly on a single charge, to allay concerns about the vehicle’s range and battery. If you want to fly from New York City to Montauk, Joby wanted to show that it can get you there without running out of juice.
“We’ve achieved something that many thought impossible with today’s battery technology,” JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said in a statement. “By doing so we’ve taken the first step towards making convenient, emissions-free air travel between places like San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, Houston and Austin, or Los Angeles and San Diego an everyday reality.”