Electric flight seeks to take off — right in our backyard

This is the February 28, 2023 edition of the Opportunity Miami newsletter written by Suzette Laboy, which we send every Tuesday. Click here to subscribe to get our weekly updates in your inbox.

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Doroni Aerospace takes us to the skies and explains how soon we may see this future of electric air mobility

One company in our backyard is turning to South Florida’s open skies in a bid to significantly change how we get around.

Doron Merdinger, CEO and Founder of Doroni Aerospace, said that even with electric vehicles, “the rubber meets the road.” But there are only so many roads, and driving on them won’t necessarily get you to your destination faster, cheaper, and cleaner.

But taking to the skies can. It’s also where many are betting the future of electric mobility will be.

We visited Doroni’s Pompano Beach headquarters for our latest On Site video series, where Merdinger showed us his two-seater, emission-free, all-electric “flying car” that he expects to reach the market in two to three years. You can watch it here.

Doroni is one of the hundreds of companies designing and seeking certifications and funding for its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles — or eVTOLs. Billions in venture capital are pouring into startups. But unlike many others, Doroni is seeking to do this from a base of operations in South Florida.

Merdinger said that Doroni, which started in 2016, made Florida its testing ground because the state has one of the biggest aviation hubs in the country, including NASA and Lockheed Martin. Doroni won 2nd place in the 2021 Aerospace Innovation and Tech Forum held by the government agency Space Florida. Plus, the weather is ideal for testing the impacts of wind, water, and high temperatures on an eVTOL “so we can bring a better product to the market,” he added.

Doroni’s designs look like hovering drones, with the prototypes being lighter, cheaper, and quieter than existing flying vehicles such as helicopters. Doroni also wants to differentiate itself from other aspiring eVTOLs by tapping into the personal mobility market instead of the air taxis or ride-sharing eVTOLs that other companies are banking on. Doroni’s two-seater version is intended for recreational use, covering distances up to 60 miles at speeds reaching 140 mph.

At the outset, it will not come cheap. Initially, the starting price point will be around $250,000. But the hope is that, in time, prices will come down with the goal of making it more affordable and accessible by offering different versions of the personal eVTOL.

The idea of “flying cars” may sound like a distant future. But Doroni’s second prototype is expected to be ready by summer. Then the Dorono H1, the company’s flagship go-to-market vehicle, is scheduled to begin testing by the end of 2023 with plans to secure FAA certification and launch commercially by the end of 2024.

The sky is open. And with improvements in drones, electric vehicles, and batteries, “this is the time that technology shows us that we should move ahead and we are going essentially wheel-less.”

For Merdinger, Doroni is a result of his biggest passion: technology. At a young age in Israel, he was known to fix electronics and create things in his room. He studied microelectronics and computers in high school, was part of the Israeli Air Force Intelligence, and later started a company focused on 3D printing before moving his family — and ideas about the future — to Florida.

“I was always immersed in the future. I was always into technology, into materials, and design,” he said. “This is where I feel comfortable.”

Meanwhile, there is still time to enter our Aspen Ideas: Climate giveaway, where we are raffling off a select number of tickets to our community of newsletter subscribers to attend the March 6–8 conference. Please subscribe here if you are not already a subscriber. The drawing will be this Thursday.

You can also check out the Aspen Ideas: Climate Tech Expo and Job Fair — which is free and open to the public — on March 7–8 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Hall B. You can learn more here.

As always, we would love to hear from you. You can share story ideas and more by emailing us at next@opportunity.miami. We invite you to subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media channels too.

Until next time,

Suzette