Overview
- The new group, called America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES), is led by Archer Aviation with BETA Technologies and Macquarie Capital as founding partners.
- The consortium plans a shared national network of as many as 250 charging sites at airports and planned vertiports, with early market focus on California, Texas, Florida and New York.
- Every site will use the Combined Charging Standard (CCS), an open protocol BETA will support with its charging hardware to enable cross‑manufacturer compatibility.
- Macquarie will lead financing and site acquisition while Archer expects to use the network for passenger services and BETA customers will access chargers for cargo and medical flights; airport ground vehicles compatible with CCS can also plug in.
- The initiative is at the planning and fundraising stage and is meant to complement FAA eVTOL pilot programs, but full interoperability and commercial rollouts depend on broader manufacturer buy‑in, permitting and regulatory coordination.