Joby Aviation and the eVTOL certification race

Joby Aviation is the frontrunner in the race to certify the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the United States. Pursuing a full FAA Part 23 type certificate — the same airworthiness standard that covers the Cessna 172 and Cirrus SR22 — the company has completed over 70% of FAA certification requirements as of early 2026 and logged more than 1,000 test flights on its production prototype.

What Is Joby Aviation Building?

Joby Aviation, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, has been developing its eVTOL aircraft for over a decade. The company went public through a SPAC in 2021 and has been flying prototypes since 2017.

The aircraft seats five passengers including the pilot and uses six tilting electric motors, each with its own propeller. It’s designed for a range of roughly 150 miles at cruise speeds around 200 mph. That performance profile targets urban routes of 30 to 60 miles — Los Angeles International to Santa Monica, Manhattan to JFK, Dallas to Fort Worth — trips that take an hour or more on the ground but could take 15 minutes in a Joby.

Why Does the Part 23 Certification Path Matter?

Joby is not pursuing a special lightweight category or experimental certificate. A full Part 23 type certificate means the FAA evaluates the entire system: structures, powerplant, flight controls, electrical systems, performance, handling qualities, bird strike resistance, lightning protection, and crashworthiness. Every area must meet defined standards demonstrated through analysis, testing, or both.

The FAA chose to certify eVTOL aircraft under a modified Part 23 framework with special conditions rather than creating an entirely new category. This decision shaped the entire certification landscape.

The challenge is that eVTOL introduces problems the FAA has never certified at this scale: distributed electric propulsion, high-voltage battery packs, fly-by-wire controls with no mechanical backup, and tilt-rotor transitions from vertical to wingborne flight. For conventional aircraft, the FAA draws on decades of institutional knowledge. For eVTOL, that knowledge is being built in real time.

Where Does Joby Stand in the Certification Process?

Joby signed a G-1 certification basis agreement with the FAA, locking in the specific regulations and special conditions for their aircraft. They have progressed into stages two and three of the process, involving detailed design reviews and physical testing.

Key milestones achieved include:

• Structural testing and high-voltage electrical testing completed
• A 245-nautical-mile flight in 2024 demonstrating range capability
• Noise testing showing approximately 65 decibels during overhead flight — about the volume of a normal conversation

That noise figure is significant. It addresses one of the biggest political obstacles to urban air mobility. Helicopter-level noise makes vertiport zoning nearly impossible in residential areas; conversation-level noise changes the equation entirely.

What Are the Real Challenges?

Battery Limitations

Joby uses custom lithium-ion battery packs. Jet fuel delivers roughly 43 megajoules per kilogram; the best lithium-ion cells today manage about 1 megajoule per kilogram — a factor-of-40 difference. This limits eVTOL aircraft to short-range operations of 100 to 200 miles. Fine for urban air taxi, but this technology is not replacing cross-country flights.

Battery degradation is also a concern. Lithium-ion cells lose capacity over charge cycles, and for an all-electric aircraft, battery replacement cost and frequency directly affect operational economics. Joby has disclosed little about projected battery lifecycle costs.

Manufacturing Scale

Joby has built a production facility in Marina, California, but scaling from five test aircraft to 500 per year for commercial service is a fundamentally different problem. Composite structures, electric motors, battery packs, and fly-by-wire avionics each require production-ready, quality-controlled, FAA-approved supply chains.

Infrastructure

A certified aircraft still needs somewhere to operate. eVTOL service requires vertiports, charging infrastructure, and air traffic management integration. Joby has partnered with cities, real estate developers, and the Department of Defense, but building a civilian vertiport network is a massive capital and regulatory undertaking that exists entirely outside aircraft certification.

Who Else Is in the Race?

Archer Aviation (California) is pursuing FAA Part 23 certification for its four-passenger Midnight aircraft and has been neck and neck with Joby, though Joby generally leads in total flight test hours.

Lilium (Germany) is developing a fixed-wing eVTOL with ducted electric fans under European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification. After bankruptcy proceedings in late 2024, the company restructured and continues development with a regional air mobility focus.

Beta Technologies (Vermont) is prioritizing charging infrastructure and cargo operations first, with its Alia aircraft using a more conventional fixed-wing design with a pusher propeller and separate lift rotors.

Wisk Aero, backed by Boeing, is developing an autonomous eVTOL with no pilot. That certification challenge likely adds years to their timeline, but eliminating the pilot seat could dramatically change the economics.

A critical constraint across the industry: the FAA does not have unlimited resources. Every applicant competes for the same pool of certification engineers, designated engineering representatives, and flight test resources. The FAA has established a dedicated eVTOL certification team, but the volume of novel applications is straining the system.

What Is the Realistic Timeline?

Joby has targeted commercial operations beginning in late 2025 to 2026, initially in Los Angeles and New York. Whether a type certificate arrives by the end of 2026 or slips into 2027 depends on the remaining flight test program and FAA throughput.

Even after type certification, several additional steps remain: an air carrier or Part 135 operating certificate, pilot type ratings, approved maintenance programs, and operational infrastructure. Each carries its own timeline.

Why This Matters Beyond Joby

Regardless of whether Joby’s specific business model succeeds, the company has forced the FAA to develop certification methods for novel propulsion and flight control architectures. The special conditions and institutional knowledge being built through this process will serve as the foundation for the next 20 years of electric aviation development.

For pilots flying traditional aircraft, eVTOL is not a replacement for piston singles or light twins. But the arrival of certified eVTOL aircraft in the National Airspace System will affect airspace management, traffic sequencing, and public perception of general aviation.

Key Takeaways

• Joby Aviation has completed over 70% of FAA Part 23 certification requirements, making it the leading eVTOL candidate for U.S. type certification.
• The aircraft achieves roughly 65 dB in overhead flight, solving the noise problem that has historically blocked urban rotorcraft operations.
• Battery energy density remains the fundamental constraint, limiting eVTOL to short-range urban routes of 100–200 miles.
• Infrastructure buildout — vertiports, charging, airspace integration — is a separate, years-long challenge that persists even after aircraft certification.
• The certification frameworks being developed now will define electric aviation regulation for decades, making this process consequential far beyond any single company.