Denso, Honeywell go airborne with plans for electric flying vehicles

Denso Corp. declared a year ago that it would look beyond its traditional businesses for new ideas. Last week, the Japanese supplier made good on the declaration by announcing it will partner with U.S. aerospace manufacturer Honeywell to develop electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for urban air mobility vehicles. Denso envisions the vehicles as lightweight, vertical-lift transports capable of carrying four or five people from point to point — more or less an air taxi. News Editor Lindsay Chappell spoke with Bill Foy, 54, Denso senior vice president of engineering. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: Urban air mobility sounds like science fiction. Is Denso saying it's going to investigate this field or that it has a business plan?

A: No, it's the real thing. It's not a skunk works project. We're going forward in urban air mobility. There are a lot of companies that are behind this, as well as the government and providers, such as Uber.

What would Denso produce?

The study we're working on with Honeywell and their customers is for electrification. When you look at urban air mobility, there are a few core principles. It's safety first. And then it needs to be green, and it needs to be quiet since you're flying over people and their houses at lower altitudes. So it needs to be electrified.

Is there a customer in the wings?

We're meeting with customers now.

When could production happen?

Take Uber as an example. Uber has been pretty public about its plans, and they want to operate this type of aircraft in the 2022-2023 time frame.