BETA selected among four projects to receive Michigan State grant

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BETA Technologies

The State of Michigan has selected BETA as one of four recipients of $6m-plus in grant funding allocated for projects to help scale AAM infrastructure in the state. 

The programme is one of the first state-wide initiatives aimed at readying the region for the arrival of AAM operations. It has been capitalised through Michigan’s AAM Activation Fund, and forms part of a broader push to increase coordination across state entities to create a centralised pipeline of projects that can accelerate AAM growth in the state. 

The project marks BETA’s first venture into Michigan to deploy charging infrastructure.

Nate Ward, BETA’s head of Network Development said: “AAM has the power to change the way we move goods and people in a significant way. It will increase operational safety and reliability while also reducing costs and emissions. 

BETA will use the funding to install its multimodal, interoperable electric chargers at four airports throughout the state, to support cargo and passenger transport missions. The airports receiving the infrastructure are Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) in Traverse City, Capital Region International Airport (LAN) just north of Lansing, West Michigan Regional Airport (BIV), Willow Run Airport (YIP) just west of Detroit and West Michigan Regional Airport (BIV) near Lake Michigan.

The firm’s electric chargers utilise an internationally recognised charging standard — CCS — to ensure compatibility with electric cars, trucks and airplanes (couplers are the same on both the land and airside). BETA announced the charger had been certified by the Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) back in April. 

“BETA is focused on building dependable and accessible charging infrastructure that will enable this new mode of transportation,” added Ward. “Michigan has a long history of driving transformation in mobility, and we’re grateful to be working with Michigan on this transformative technology.”

The grant arrives during BETA’s broader efforts to roll out a nationwide network of charging infrastructure. To date, the company has 20 sites online along the east and gulf coasts, with 50 more sites in development.

In November last year, BETA agreed a deal to supply its aircraft chargers to fellow eVTOL developer Archer. The California-based company is using two of BETA’s Charge Cubes at its flight test bases, as well as an undisclosed number of Mini Cube mobile charging systems which can be deployed as required.

“Fast charging is critical to ensure rapid turnaround times between flights,” said Adam Goldstein, Archer’s founder and CEO, at the time. “A widespread, fast charging system is critical to ensuring electric air taxis reach scale in the coming years and this collaboration between two industry leaders is an exciting step towards achieving that.”

BETA has also announced a partnership with business aviation FBO, Signature Aviation which has seen it install charging infrastructure initially at three on-airport locations across the US east coast.

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