Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is rapidly gaining consumer and investor interest but faces a number of challenges that must be overcome. These challenges include battery technology, increasing levels of automation and autonomy, noise, vehicle certification, and airspace management. In this paper, we explore the potential of a near-term small-scale UAM service that avoids many of these challenges through the use of a currently available general aviation airplane retrofitted with an electric propulsion system. In particular, we investigate the applicability of a battery electric variant of the Cessna 208B Caravan for short-haul intracity commuter trips in U.S. cities. Missions with a range of up to 50 nautical miles at a cruise speed of 150 kts are anticipated to be feasible using current battery technology. Based on the opportunity to reduce passenger commuting time compared to driving, we find that in certain U.S. cities with geographic constraints and high levels of traffic congestion, there is significant potential demand for such a service, even considering the first- and last-mile challenges of trips to and from origin and destination airports. This type of UAM service might be a useful initial step as a "minimum viable product" to assess the public's willingness to adopt aviation for short ranged daily trips if the price point of the service can be reduced adequately via new technologies such as electric propulsion.
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