Eve secures US$88 million from BNDES for eVTOL production

Eve Air Mobility (Eve) has secured a US$88 million loan from Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) to fund the development of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft production facility in Taubaté, São Paulo.

This financing builds on the successful partnership between Eve and BNDES, following the 2022 approval of a US$92.5 million line of credit to support Eve’s eVTOL development programme. The new loan, structured with sub-credits from both domestic and international sources, has a maturity period of 16 years.

Eve plans to gradually expand the facility’s production capacity to eventually manufacture up to 480 aircraft per year, in four modules of 120 aircraft each, following a capital-efficient, scalable approach as market demand grows.

Eve holds the industry’s largest backlog, with letters of intent (LOIs) for 2,900 eVTOLs from 30 customers across 13 countries, representing potential sales revenue of US$14.5 billion. The aircraft features eight dedicated propellers for vertical flight and fixed wings for cruising, with no in-flight repositioning of these components. It is equipped with an electric pusher powered by dual motors, offering propulsion redundancy for superior performance, safety, and low operating costs.

Johann Bordais, CEO of Eve, expressed gratitude for BNDES’s ongoing support, emphasising its importance in helping the company advance its mission of transforming urban mobility with efficient and sustainable flight solutions. “This financing will be instrumental in setting up our eVTOL manufacturing facility, which will be not only the first of its kind in Brazil but also powered by clean, renewable energy, aligned with our commitment to sustainability.”

“The financing reinforces the commitment of President Lula’s government to support innovative projects in Brazilian industry, such as air mobility, which uses high technological intensity. The BNDES has the necessary instrument to provide international competitiveness to domestic companies, which is the BNDES Mais Inovação program, which has already approved R$8 billion in credits since 2023”, explained the bank’s president, Aloizio Mercadante.