Joby breaks ground on California expansion, second eVTOL rolls off production line

Joby Aviation celebrated breaking ground on the expansion of its Pilot Production Line in Marina, California on Monday. This expansion will more than double the company's manufacturing footprint at the Marina Municipal Airport and operations are expected to begin in 2025. At the celebration, Joby showcased its second production prototype aircraft which recently rolled off of the Company's pilot production line. The second prototype is expected to join the first at Edwards Air Force Base later this year. Joby said there are two additional aircraft in final assembly. The groundbreaking ceremony on Monday had many guests in attendance, including Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado, Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root-Askew and Toyota Collaboration Lead Kiyoshiba Mase. The expansion will bring jobs to the local community and support growth in the county. "Joby benefits all of our tri-county community," Delgado said. "We're pleased to see Joby continue to invest in expanding its presence at Marina Municipal Airport, providing high-tech jobs in clean manufacturing that benefit the local community." In November 2023, Joby was awarded a $9.8 million California Competes grant by the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz) to support the company's continued expansion within the state. The funding will finance the expansion of Joby's Marina facilities, as well as higher manufacturing volumes and initial training for pilots and aircraft maintainers, continued hiring at Joby offices in San Carlos and Santa Cruz. As part of the larger agreement, Joby has committed to investing $41.3 million to create 690 full-time jobs in California by 2027. "This facility will play a foundational role in our future success and it is a privilege to once again be growing our footprint and our workforce in California," Joby Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said. "I am grateful to the local community and our many supporters who have advocated on our behalf to reach this point and to Toyota for everything they continue to do to make manufacturing a success at Joby." The expanded facility will support a target production rate of 25 aircraft per year, housing a range of key operations facilities like an expanded pilot training and flight simulation center and aircraft maintenance facilities designed to support Joby's scaled commercial operations. "Joby's continued success and growth in Monterey County shows the strength of well-executed public-private partnerships and that California continues to be a great place for companies to build the future," Root-Askew said. "We're thrilled to see Joby break ground on an expansion to their electric air taxi factory in Marina and we look forward to future opportunities to partner for the benefit of our local economy."RELATED STORIES:Joby becomes first eVTOL developer to complete third stage of FAA certification processArcher, Joby progress toward FAA certificationJoby awarded $9.8m grant to support California facility expansion, new jobsJoby to build first scaled manufacturing facility in Ohio Along with the Marina expansion, Joby shared in September 2023 that it had plans to build its first scaled aircraft production facility in the birthplace of aviation, Dayton, Ohio. Joby acquired an existing facility at the Dayton International Airport as part of its plans to develop scaled manufacturing facilities to produce up to 500 aircraft per year. Joby's eVTOL is designed to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph. The eVTOL can offer passengers high-speed mobility with less noise than helicopters and with zero operating emissions.