KUALA LUMPUR: N-Strategy Consulting Services (NSCS) is confident that Malaysia could benefit from substantial economic spillover effect in terms of foreign direct investment and job creations through the deployment of French-made Electric Visionary Aircraft (EVA).
EVA is the first compact autonomous E-VTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) produced by the France-based aerospace company.
EVA first aircraft, the X01, will leapfrog traffic jams and the fastest way to commute in urban.
NSCS founder and chief executive officer Nathanael Noiraud said the spillover would be highly dependent on the negotiation outcome with the Malaysian government particularly the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and government-related agencies.
As the regional strategic partner of EVA in Southeast Asia, NSCS said the aircraft deployment could also include the setting up of manufacturing and distribution operations locally.
“We are currently engaged with the government to get regulatory approval to operate EVA, the X01 aircraft, in Malaysia.
“While the 1/5th scale prototype successfully flew earlier this year, the EVA full-size prototype will kick start its maiden flight in December this year. The French-based aerospace company is also in the midst to get certification for its pilot test, which is expected to be in early 2019,” he told NST Business in an interview recently.
Noiraud said the potential opening of EVA manufacturing here would enable the creation of at least 300 jobs to local people, subject to the size of the plant and final decision from EVA followed by the support from the government.
“The plan to build EVA manufacturing plan will also depend on the market demand for this type of aircraft. It has to serve many projects in Malaysia to justify the plan, perhaps in early 2020.
“If the demand is not encouraging, we will consider focusing on the local distributorship first,” he added.
Noiraud said EVA’s pilot test would be done across Europe, Middle East and Asia as well as Asean regions, while the mass production is slated by 2020.
“If we get the regulation approval from MoT earlier, it is likely that the pilot test for this air service can be done next year in Malaysia. We will coordinate the test with the relevant government agencies to undertake this flight testing,” he added.
Noiraud said the company was also eyeing for local partnerships from the existing players in the market such as e-hailing service provider and other air charter companies to embark on the new innovative air transport facility by EVA.
On top of that, Noiraud said the company was open to potential institutional investors in Malaysia to deploy the EVA air service (air taxi) in the country and make the country as EVA’s regional hub.
According to studies, Kuala Lumpur is wasting about 1.2 billion litres (two per cent of the gross domestic product) of fuel in traffic congestion annually.
Noiraud said air travel would make life better for citizens, citing that by removing one per cent of people on the road, a city would get about 18 per cent improvement in traffic flow.
“EVA requires about €1 per kilometre to operate. It is a zero-emission aircraft powered by an electric propulsion of 520 Kw battery, safer and reliable mode of air transportation within cities. It also operates autonomously for up to 250km rides with a top-speed of 300km/h. The vehicle can accommodate four passengers for a maximum payload of 250kg.
“It requires only a regular car parking space as the aircraft’s wings can be folded. The EVA is also capable to vertically take-off with folded wings, horizontal flight with open wings and vertical landing with folded wings,” he said.
Noiraud pointed out that the EVA was practical to be used in maritime surveillance, logistic, on-demand air taxi (city-city and airport-city), off-shore charter service, search and rescue mission and private usage for individual.
“We expect to have continuous strong interest and traction from the public and private sectors as well as support from the local authorities,” he said.
Noiraud said Malaysia has interesting appetite for innovation and technology, a positive indication for the EVA to deploy its aircraft service in the country.
“Local authorities try to move things forward like they did for the development of infrastructures in Malaysia, which has been quite impressive over the past 40-50 years.
“Malaysia is a very promising market for EVA because the country has strong needs in the offshore, logistics and maritime surveillance sectors as well as a growing demand for improved commuting services in the cities to flying facilities in the region,” he said.