As industries begin to shift away from fossil fuels, Ampaire is banking on its line of hybrid-electric airplanes to revolutionize air travel. The company recently announced its historic first flight of an existing airline route in Hawaii.
Kevin Noertker, Ampaire CEO, said not only would the environment reap the biggest benefits from a reduction of emissions, but the airline industry could also soar to new heights.
"For the airlines, the biggest impact is reduced cost of operation. Airlines care about the total cost of ownership and operation for their planes. By switching to a hybrid plane, you could reduce that fuel burn by up to 50 percent," Noertker told Cheddar.
The CEO also noted that a fully electric plane would reduce emissions by more than 90 percent.
After launching in 2016 and constructing an aircraft for the last two years, paid flights for the company are on the horizon. "We're looking at about a three-year timeline before we get certification to deploy these planes in that commercial operation," Noertker said.
While the company gears up for commercial flights, it has already been conducting demonstrations under the FAA's experimental market survey, which allows passengers and potential Ampaire customers to fly.
Last month, the company became the first to ever demonstrate a hybrid-electric flight in Maui, which went from Kahului to Hana in about 20 minutes. Like other industries, Ampaire's ability to continue developing and moving forward with test flights, particularly in Hawaii, was impacted by pandemic-related restrictions.
The hybrid-electric planes, according to Noertker, while capable of long-distance flights, are optimal for relatively short-distances. Over the next five to 10 years, however, there are plans to produce an aircraft that can hold up to 20 passengers and will fly "routes between 50 and 500 miles."
"The reality is most routes that airlines like to fly are about 100 miles," Noertker said.
Roundhill Investments is investing in the metaverse, and it wants consumers to as well. The firm launched a metaverse exchange-trade fund called Meta back in June - the first ETF in the U.S. targeting investments in the next era of the internet. The fund's launch came months before the company formerly known as Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms. Since the launch of Roundhill Investments' Meta ETF, it has grown significantly, reaching $500 million in assets. Roundhill Investments Vice President Mario Stefanidis joined Cheddar News to discuss.
The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Uber after it was discovered that disabled people were being disproportionately affected by extra “wait time” fees. Attorney Jonathan Bell joined Cheddar to discuss.
Things are expensive: both the important and the not-so-important stuff. October saw the largest year-to-year increase in the consumer price index in over 30 years. Inflation remains a top concern for the average American consumer as some stress over the price of everyday essentials like milk, beef, and gasoline.
But that doesn't seem to be affecting overall retail shopping.
U.S. retail sales rose by 1.7% in October, a sign that consumers are willing to spend more heading into the holidays despite rising inflation. The elevated spending levels suggest solid holiday sales this month and next. On top of that, major retailers like Target and Walmart have come out this week and said they're set to be fully stocked for the holiday season, easing any concerns customers might have about supply chain issues leaving empty shelves before the holidays.
Brittain Ladd, retail strategist and consultant, joins None of the Above to discuss.
Tanya Snyder, transportation reporter at Politico, joins None of the Above with J.D. Durkin to discuss the bipartisan infrastructure law, what it means for the electric vehicle industry and whether Democrats will be able to capitalize on the legislative victory ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Twitter announced a partnership with S&P Dow Jones Indices on Thursday to build the S&P 500 Sentiment Index for monitoring the performance of 200 S&P members based on tweets with company $cashtags. Jared Podnos, strategic market development lead at Twitter, and Peter Roffman, global head of innovation and strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, joined Cheddar to provide some background on the partnership and to explain exactly how monitoring companies through public opinion will work. "[The S&P] taps into this conversation. They understand the real-time conversation as well as the historical trends, and then we can analyze that and understand the consumer sentiment and really build these innovative products around that conversation," Podnos added.
Cognitive healthcare platform BrainCheck recently raised $10 million in a Series B round. The platform offers neurologists a new way to detect and care for brain disorders like Alzeheimer's, and brain injuries like concussions. BrainCheck CEO Yael Katz joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
