SAE TOMORROW TODAY: A Powerful Alliance in Electric Urban Air Mobility

What do you get when you combine the brainpower of aerospace leader Honeywell with leading automotive supplier DENSO? A powerhouse partnership that is shaping the future of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) with electric propulsion systems for aircraft. Driven by a shared vision of moving people and cargo in radically more efficient and sustainable ways, the Honeywell DENSO alliance brings together Honeywell's 100 years of aerospace expertise and DENSO's 30-plus years of electrification know-how. Recently, the partners announced that they are co-developing an electric motor (e-motor) for an all-electric jet with Lilium, the developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) jet. This proprietary, high-performance system brings exceptional performance and reliability with zero operating emissions typically associated with commercial jet engines. We sat down with Kenji Morikawa, Director, Electrified Systems Engineering at DENSO, and Taylor Alberstadt, Global Sales and Marketing Leader, Unmanned Aerial Systems/Urban Air Mobility at Honeywell Aerospace, to discuss the evolution of their alliance, their company synergies, and how electric-powered aircraft will evolve over the next decade.