ST. GEORGE — Imagine ordering a ride and what shows up is a drone big enough to carry a small family.
This day may arrive sooner than you think. And one Southern Utah company will have those passengers riding in comfort.
St. George-based Intergalactic, a producer of thermal management systems for avionics, recently announced the company has been selected as the supplier for Eve Air Mobility, a leader in the development of next-generation urban air mobility aircraft.
Eve’s Urban Air Mobility vehicles are powered by electricity and resemble large-sized drones. Still in the planning stages, the company’s EVE-100 model boasts the capacity to transport four passengers and one pilot, according to a media release.
“We are honored and humbled to partner with Eve to build an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) platform that will transform urban transportation around the world,” Intergalactic CEO Brian McCann said. “Eve brings tremendous competence and relevant experience to the table and we are fully committed to working together to develop a safe, efficient aircraft for the whole world to enjoy.”
Eve Air Mobility is in the certification, entry into service and large-scale production phases of its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Brad Plothow, chief growth officer at Intergalactic, said employees in St. George will be providing the advanced, lightweight thermal management systems that ensure passenger and pilot comfort and precise temperature control for critical electrical systems, avionics equipment and vehicle batteries.
“Most of the aerospace industry’s legacy thermal management technology is 50 to 100 years old,” he said. “So we’re developing the next generation of thermal technologies and products to enable breakthroughs like more powerful military aircraft, consumer air taxis and permanent lunar habitation.”
Founded in 2016, Intergalactic has been developing smaller, lighter and higher-performing thermal management systems for the defense aerospace, civil aviation and commercial space sectors.
Plothow noted that in June, Intergalactic launched a new product dubbed Eagle5, “a nod to the cinematic masterpiece Spaceballs,” he said.
The product was well-received by the industry and led to more than a dozen new opportunities with companies developing electric vertical take-off and landing, regional electric and hybrid electric aircraft.
“Electrification is a major trend in aviation and UAM (urban air mobile) is a primary use case,” the media release stated. “Morgan Stanley projects the global UAM market to reach $1 trillion in market value by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050 as the technology matures and adoption becomes ubiquitous.”
Eve Air Mobility is backed by Embraer, a leading regional aircraft airframer based in Brazil and provider to companies such as SkyWest Airlines, which has more than 50 years of experience in the airline industry.
“This program presents potentially $1 billion in lifetime value to Intergalactic, so it offers tremendous economic impact potential for jobs and capital investment in Southern Utah,” Plothow said. “It was a very competitive process with multiple suppliers vying for the work, including major U.S. aerospace original equipment manufacturers.”
According to Eve Air Mobility’s website, they are planning to launch the EVE-100 on six continents in 2026, including South Florida in the United States.
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