Am I right in thinking this looks like Thunderbird 2?

A bit strange to look at..... but i welcome diversity, EVTOL's will at some stage carry large payload/more pax. And this could be the start of that specific niche within the regular smaller payload taxi niche.

The Big Elephant of course is the question, what will power it to 530 km of range.
I for one know it will be possible, however battery tech/fuel cell tech for long range aircraft is just still slightly out of reach, thats why the 2-4 seater taxi market is perfect for now.

energy requirements will be absolutely epic. that said, it will neither be ecological nor economically competitive, beside "offering" all the cons of eVTOLs (1000 feet death zone, very short flight time, software/ certification issues...). I am not sorry for the ones investing in these fantasies... But I like the renderings! ;-)

Looks like a flying saucer.

@Dan
What cons ? Sorry that's far from accurate,
i'm With TM the sloppy armchair comments needs to be addressed.

Every aircraft has got a death zone, not to mention high disc loading helicopters, auto rotation being useless in too many cases to mention, failed engines at V1 on airplanes, these accidents have happened many a times in real life and yet they are still certified ! Unbelievable.

It's time to wake up and face reality, multicopters are superior machines with utmost reliability that normal aircraft cannot touch.

EVTOL's have redundancy that have been tested to be superior to prevent these disasters.

I seem to recall just on the other thread you commenting without any knowledge, here you do the exact same.

Ecologically and economically it will be far superior than any other existing transport aircraft, clearly you don't understand the technology whatsoever, software/hardware what about it, it is absolutely solid, tried and tested for over a decade, as mentioned in the Volo comment section in the previous article as well.

Renderings ? Haha, are you coming out of a cave ? Similar aircraft is flying already in front of your eyes for many years, get in touch with reality and get with the Future.

The Sky looks bright for EVTOL's to take off in a dramatic and global fashion !

The whole lifting-body thing seems like a great idea, and a very underexploited one. It is not a new idea and yet in the end, economics and standards win the day.

This hardshell blimp seems odd though, because it has no other apparent aero-control surfaces. With a slightly-heavier-than-air or a bonafide lighter-than-air craft, this is feasible simply due to the safety factor such buoyancy provides...but even then, they typically have control surfaces.

This craft makes the argument for Airlander and Lockheed to get into the eVTOL space.

This slideware will never fly, both figuratively and literally.

A slick hard shelled blimp with active airfoils, what sort of gas inside?

@dan

I see you posting about a "death zone" on every single eVTOL news article. I'm not saying this particular example of an eVTOL is good, but you might be missing the point that with enough redundancy, there is no longer a death zone. Just think about it for a minute or so. If one failure doesn't cause a total loss of power, then when does this death zone occur? Isn't this the same reason a lot of jetliners have multiple engines? So they can keep flying if something goes wrong?

This thing is going to be loud, and it will make the urban environment a little less hospitable all for the benefit of the wealthy few.