ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS, LLC

MONDAY REPORT

VOL 1, WEEK 8 March 29, 2021

ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS, LLC COPYRIGHT 2021 © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected]

Monday Report March 29, 2021

Welcome to Easter Week. This past week has been busy, here are the highlights.

● We established an Executive Team o Edwin Brenninkmeyer o Bill Minkoff o Arthur Moritz o Bill “Shoes” Johnson o Paul Mulcahy o Mat Garretson

This week we will: ● We will set up HR and accounting processes. ● Begin building data bases o Advisors o Potential Clients o Industry players o Governmental agencies ● Begin to send website building blocks to JB ● Begin discussions with www.t1performance.com ● Review and possibly sign a contract with UChicago for summer interns ● Formulate arrangements with Dr. Johnson for collaboration with Lynn University ● We will try to have google docs for collaboration ready by Friday. ● Note Company Phone Number o +1 (615) 648-7566

Monday Report 20210329.

From Edwin:

1. Connected with Duncan Walker, CEO / Co-founder of Skyports. https://skyports.net/team/ The five things that keep him awake at night the most are: a. Which technology will win and which is the most viable. b. Airspace issues for operating these . c. Regulatory issues. d. Social acceptance including noise, safety / security and environment: He envisages city centre to city centre travel, so these aircraft will have to pass directly over densely populated areas. Incidentally, Peter Schmidt has done some research on this and believes that noise isn’t the issue – it’s social acceptability. The concept here is that 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

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people can quite happily tolerate a lawn mower or hedge strimmer as this is something they all need, use and value but a helicopter which is beyond the financial means of many is considered unacceptable, even though the decibel level may be significantly lower than the hedge cutter. e. Availability of capital, although he believes this is less of an issue now than it was in 2018 when he launched the business. 2. Next week: a. Will speak with James Arnold from Arrival (www.arrival.com). Similar idea in a different industry and there may be some synergies. b. I would like to put together the framework for an presentation (could form the basis of an external one too, in future) to collate some of our ideas and thinking and to further structure ourselves. Some initial thoughts: i. Vision / Mission / Goals. ii. Brief bios of all involved and what areas of expertise they bring to the table. iii. The potential for industry partnerships along the lines discussed with Shoes and Bill Minkoff today. iv. Potential areas for us to specialise in and provide advice to. v. Identification of any gaps in team capability that we either manage or proactively aim to fill. vi. Roadmap, budgets, next steps, milestones. (Perhaps also identify next steps for Duncan Walker / Skyports to keep him engaged.)

Suggested Reading Things we found of inerest

1. Battery Technology. A. Commercial Lithium metal Battery start up partnering with GM for e-cars (March 2021) SolidEnergy Solutions (SES) of Woburn, Mass – cut the weight and by 2023 Ultium batter packs will be prototyped. GM says by mid decade the battery packs projected to cost 60% less than todays with 2X the energy density. They also have been able to develop an electrolyte coating for lithium metal foil that works at room temperature (previous lithium metal batteries would only work when heated to 175o F. Technology is still a number of years away and not without risk. GM building a joint venture Ultium batter plant in Ohio with LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Chem. May have a second factory also. GM has significant investment in this effort. NOTE: Using AI-powered battery management software to optimize EV performance and safety. Article: GM announces partnership with lithium metal battery startup | Driving Article: GM unveils plans for lithium-metal batteries that could boost EV range (yahoo.com) B. New Stable High-Voltage Long-Life Solid-Batteries. (Feb 2021) Uses Sodium, Yttrium, Zirconium and Choloride (NYZC) built from Na3YCl6 – well know material that is a poor conductor. Adding Zirconium increases the volume of the cell battery unit. No info on power density. The technology has been licensed by UNIGRID, a 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected] startup co-founded by UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Zheng Chen; Erik Wu, a Ph.D. alumnus from Meng’s research group; and Darren H. S. Tan, one of Meng’s Ph.D. students. Meng is the company’s technical advisor Note: Used machine learning to find the best compounds. Article: New Material Breakthrough for Stable High-Voltage Long-Life Solid-State Batteries (scitechdaily.com) C. Battery breakthrough for (July 2020) Article: Battery Breakthrough to Give Flight to Electric Aircraft and Boost Long-Range Electric Cars (scitechdaily.com) Overcoming the issue of dendrite formation. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) with Carnegie Mellon University have found a new type of soft, solid electrolytes made from both polymers and ceramics (soft polymers of intrinsic microporosity – PIMS) that suppress dendrites before they anc propagate and cause battery failure. This may allow the drop in replacement of the graphite anodes currently used with lithium-foils with PIM composite electrolyte as a laminate between a lithium metal anodes and the battery separator metal anodes and increasing energy storage capacity. Researchers believe this approach may be useful for electric aircraft. An awardee under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) IONICS program, 24M Technologies, has integrated these materials into larger format batteries for both EVs and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOL. D. “All-Solid-State” Battery Background (Nov 2017) Current battery tech is lithium ion – expensive and as a flammable liquid creating possible safety hazard. New technology based on sodium (cheap alternative to lithium) being researched at Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, and the Unitversity of Geneva (UNIGE). Potential for more energy storage, higher safety and reliability. Batteries 101. Anode (negative pole), Cathode (positive pole) and electrolyte. Lithium ion batteries use lithium liquid as the electrolyte creates the ion that moves from cathode to anode. Solid lithium dendrites may fore and induce short circuits that can cause a fire. The current batteries prevent this by using a graphite anode vice lithium metal (very light – increased energy storage). Empa/UNIGE making a solid electrolyte to block the dendrite formation and then use a metal anode allowing safe storage of more energy. They also found that a boron based substance (closo-borane) had properties that allowed the sodium ions to circulate freely without risk of catching fire while recharging. As of the article date – needed to extend the testing to various conditions before moving forward to market. Article: “All-Solid-State” Battery Offers Better Performance and Improved Safety (scitechdaily.com) 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected]

U.S. AAM Market To Generate $115B Annually by 2035. A joint study from Deloitte and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) predicts that the U.S. advanced air mobility (AAM) market, which includes flying taxis and cargo drones, will generate sales of $115 billion annually by 2035—equivalent to 0.5 percent of U.S. GDP. This emerging industry is also expected to create more than 280,000 “high paying” jobs in the same time frame, accounting for approximately 8 percent of the aerospace and defense workforce, the new report adds. For the full article see: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2021-03-19/us-aam-market-generate-115b-a nnually-2035

Embraer Launches Urban Air Mobility Division Called Eve is stepping up its plans to develop eVTOL aircraft with the formation this week of a new subsidiary called Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer said the new U.S.-based division is working on “a portfolio of solutions to enable the urban air mobility (UAM) market,” confirming that these include an eVTOL it has been developing in stealth mode for the past four years through its EmbraerX advanced technology unit

For the full article see: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-10-15/embraer-launches-urban -air-mobility-division-called-eve

Surf Air Mobility Lands $200M IPO-linked Funding Boost . Mobility, which was formed alongside Surf Air’s acquisition of aviation marketplace BlackBird earlier this year with the aim to accelerate zero-emission flight, today announced a $200 million investment commitment from Luxembourg-based Global Emerging Markets Group (GEM) to take the company public. The $200 million commitment comes with an advance of $50 million, immediately available on the first day of trading; further tranches can then be drawn at the company’s option over a three-year period. For the full article see: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-09-01/surf-air-mobility-lands-200m-ipo-li nked-funding-boost 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected]

Recording Available

Aerospace’s Hottest Market? The Future of Vertical Lift

The recording for Aerospace’s Hottest Market? The Future of Vertical Lift is now available to watch.Find out more about Aerospace and Defense Community Forum, bringing the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries together to support the critical need for information exchange - Bill’s note: This video is a bit rough around the edges but contains some snippets of insight. https://webinar.aviationweek.com/aviation-week-network/Aerospace-s-Hottest-Market-The-Future-of-Verti cal-Lift?bmid=cb85e97a03e4

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Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected] ANALYSIS: Hybridize To Revitalize Graham Warwick March 23, 2021

Ampaire Electric EEL hybrid-electric prototype in Hawaii. Credit: Ampaire To many, ’s acquisition of hybrid-electric aircraft pioneer Ampaire may seem to be small news. Neither company is a household name. But if their plans succeed, the deal could prove to be a milestone for regional aviation and electric aircraft.

Proponents of electrified aircraft propulsion theorize the resulting significant reductions in operating costs, emissions and noise will lead to a renaissance in short-range, point-to-point service between smaller communities. The acquisition of Ampaire by a company focused on accelerating and expanding the use of sustainable propulsion in commercial aviation will be a litmus test for the theory.

Turboprop commuter California-based Surf Air is a small but respected airline that offers commuter service for a monthly subscription, flying Pilatus PC-12 . In 2020, the company acquired BlackBird, an aviation marketplace that enables passengers to charter flights on private aircraft. Surf Air Mobility was born out of the transaction, with ambitions to do more than just operate aircraft.

“Are we going to convert our planes, and only our planes, then buy another 500 aircraft and rule the world?” Surf Air Mobility president Fred Reid president asks rhetorically. 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

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“I’ve been in aviation long enough to know that would be a spectacularly terrible idea. So we really believe that the North Star is the expansion of hybrid platforms across the world.”

Reid is an industry veteran. His previous roles include president at Lufthansa, president and COO at , founding CEO of and president at , the former Bombardier business-jet fractional ownership program. Reid joined Surf Air Mobility from Airbnb but first gained experience of electric propulsion as president of the Cora air-taxi program at Kitty Hawk.

Hybrid-electric Ampaire, meanwhile, is one of a raft of startups founded within the past five years to bring electric propulsion to aviation, starting with hybrid-electric power trains for short-range regional aircraft because they are within reach of the technology available. The Californian company is developing propulsion retrofits for nine- to 19-seat piston and aircraft.

“What is available now is hybrid-electric. We see it as a steppingstone to fully electric propulsion, starting with 19 seats or fewer,” Reid said. “The upgrade is relatively cheap and will add 10-25 years life to the airframe. For roughly the cost of an engine overhaul in a King Air, PC-12, Caravan or Twin Otter you will get a reduction of 60-90% in fuel consumption and 25-35% in overall operating cost.”

Ampaire has taken an early lead in the nascent market, converting the six-seat Cessna 337 Skymaster into a flying testbed for its parallel hybrid power train. In late 2020, the aircraft was flown daily between Kahului and Hana Airports on Maui, a route operated by Hawaiian regional , to validate the fuel savings from using batteries to augment the combustion engine for takeoff and cruise.

The startup is now developing its first commercial product, the Eco Otter SX, a hybrid-electric conversion of the 19-passenger de Havilland Canada Twin Otter planned for supplemental type certification in 2023. A modification for the 9/11-seat Cessna Caravan is also in the works. Stated range is just 200 mi., but Reid notes the Skymaster testbed has flown 340 mi., showing the potential of hybrid propulsion.

Through its acquisition of Ampaire, Surf Air Mobility plans to offer hybrid-electric upgrades for more than 30,000 certified piston- and turboprop-powered aircraft in service that it sees as suitable for conversion. “We see those as low-hanging fruit,” says Reid.

“In terms of piston planes and turboprops, the number one hindrance to the wider use of those aircraft in the commercial arena—and the sweet spot we’re looking for is 50-500 mi.—is cost. That and damage to the environment,” he said. 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

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“Some people might say I’m not getting on that plane because of the environment, but they will say I’m not getting on that plane because it’s a little more expensive than a 300-mi. ride in UberX. But we expect to change that.”

Ampaire and Surf Air Mobility are not the only companies to see potential in hybrid-electric propulsion to reboot regional transportation by dramatically reducing operating costs. French startup VoltAero is developing the clean-sheet Cassio family of four-to-10-seat aircraft and aiming to begin deliveries by the end of 2022 to link smaller cities in France and elsewhere that are not well connected by high-speed rail or commercial air service.

Programs also have been launched to convert aircraft ranging from the 10-passenger Britten-Norman Islander to the 40-passenger de Haviland Canada Dash 8 to hybrid-electric or hydrogen-electric propulsion, targeting service entry in 2023-25.

All-electric nine- to 19-passenger aircraft are already under development but, while battery technology is certain to improve, Reid sees a long life ahead for hybrids.

“Our first product will not require chargers or infrastructure,” he said. “And our certification path is not easy, but it’s very practical and feasible.”

https://aviationweek.com/forum/air-transport/electric-regional-aircraft?elq2=590f8a71a88e43e3b471c5b79 6daf80f&utm_campaign=27554&utm_medium=email&utm_rid=CPEN1000034701538

Monday Report 20210329

2. Battery Technology. E. Commercial Lithium metal Battery start up partnering with GM for e-cars (March 2021) SolidEnergy Solutions (SES) of Woburn, Mass – cut the weight and by 2023 Ultium batter packs will be prototyped. GM says by mid decade the battery packs projected to cost 60% less than todays with 2X the energy density. They also have been able to develop an electrolyte coating for lithium metal foil that works at room temperature (previous lithium metal batteries would only work when heated to 175o F. 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected]

Technology is still a number of years away and not without risk. GM building a joint venture Ultium batter plant in Ohio with LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Chem. May have a second factory also. GM has significant investment in this effort. NOTE: Using AI-powered battery management software to optimize EV performance and safety. Article: GM announces partnership with lithium metal battery startup | Driving Article: GM unveils plans for lithium-metal batteries that could boost EV range (yahoo.com) F. New Stable High-Voltage Long-Life Solid-Batteries. (Feb 2021) Uses Sodium, Yttrium, Zirconium and Choloride (NYZC) built from Na3YCl6 – well know material that is a poor conductor. Adding Zirconium increases the volume of the cell battery unit. No info on power density. The technology has been licensed by UNIGRID, a startup co-founded by UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Zheng Chen; Erik Wu, a Ph.D. alumnus from Meng’s research group; and Darren H. S. Tan, one of Meng’s Ph.D. students. Meng is the company’s technical advisor Note: Used machine learning to find the best compounds. Article: New Material Breakthrough for Stable High-Voltage Long-Life Solid-State Batteries (scitechdaily.com) G. Battery breakthrough for Electric Aircraft (July 2020) Article: Battery Breakthrough to Give Flight to Electric Aircraft and Boost Long-Range Electric Cars (scitechdaily.com) Overcoming the issue of dendrite formation. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) with Carnegie Mellon University have found a new type of soft, solid electrolytes made from both polymers and ceramics (soft polymers of intrinsic microporosity – PIMS) that suppress dendrites before they anc propagate and cause battery failure. This may allow the drop in replacement of the graphite anodes currently used with lithium-foils with PIM composite electrolyte as a laminate between a lithium metal anodes and the battery separator metal anodes and increasing energy storage capacity. Researchers believe this approach may be useful for electric aircraft. An awardee under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) IONICS program, 24M Technologies, has integrated these materials into larger format batteries for both EVs and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOL. H. “All-Solid-State” Battery Background (Nov 2017) Current battery tech is lithium ion – expensive and as a flammable liquid creating possible safety hazard. New technology based on sodium (cheap alternative to lithium) being researched at Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, and the Unitversity of Geneva (UNIGE). Potential for more energy storage, higher safety and reliability. Batteries 101. Anode (negative pole), Cathode (positive pole) and electrolyte. Lithium ion batteries use lithium liquid as the electrolyte creates the ion that moves from cathode to anode. Solid lithium dendrites may fore and induce short circuits that can cause a fire. The current batteries prevent this by using a graphite anode vice lithium metal (very light – increased energy storage). Empa/UNIGE making a solid electrolyte to block the dendrite formation and then use a metal anode allowing safe storage of more energy. They also found that a boron based substance 20210329 ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY ADVISORS Monday Report Vol 1 Week 8

Telephone. +1. 615.648.7566 Responses to: [email protected]

(closo-borane) had properties that allowed the sodium ions to circulate freely without risk of catching fire while recharging. As of the article date – needed to extend the testing to various conditions before moving forward to market. Article: “All-Solid-State” Battery Offers Better Performance and Improved Safety (scitechdaily.com)