ACES CONSORTIUM TO BUILD AIR TAXI CHARGING NETWORK ACROSS TEXAS

America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways (ACES), launched by Archer Aviation, BETA Technologies and Macquarie Capital, has announced plans to bring its interoperable charging network to Texas to support the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) air taxi operations under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). TxDOT was selected for the eIPP in March 2026. ACES, which set a goal in July 2026 of electrifying more than 250 air taxi sites across America’s largest airports and metro areas by 2030, plans to work with TxDOT over the coming months to identify where operators intend to fly and where charging infrastructure should be located, with an initial focus on connecting the Texas Triangle of Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, and extending from each city into surrounding rural communities.

A SHARED NETWORK RATHER THAN COMPETING SYSTEMS

ACES is designed as shared infrastructure that multiple operators and use cases can run on the same chargers, intended to give other infrastructure operators, OEMs and investors a path to join a unified network rather than fragment into proprietary systems. “The future of aviation is taking flight in Texas,” said Sergio Roman, TxDOT Emerging Aviation Tech Director. “The eIPP is a first-of-its-kind effort to safely integrate electric aircraft into U.S. airspace, and building the charging infrastructure to support those operations puts Texas squarely at the center of the next generation of aviation, improving safety and connectivity for communities across the state.” Adam Goldstein, Founder and CEO of Archer Aviation, said: “Texas is preparing the way for America to lead the world in commercializing the next generation of aviation technologies, and infrastructure is how that push becomes real. ACES plans to put interoperable chargers where eIPP operations will take place, built on an open standard the whole industry can use. That’s the foundation Texas needs to set the region up for passenger air taxi flights across the Texas Triangle as part of the final phase of the Texas eIPP pilot.” Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, said: “Aircraft are only useful if you have the infrastructure in place to support them. ACES is about making sure that infrastructure is interoperable, reliable, and ready where operators need it. Texas gives us a great opportunity to put that work into practice alongside TxDOT and show how shared charging infrastructure can support real operations today.”

Note: This announcement covers charging infrastructure rather than flight operations; see today’s separate report on Joby’s own Texas eIPP flight campaign, which is already flying routes under the same TxDOT programme.