Electric Aircraft

Deriving from electric motor technology that set speed records on land, water and air, the Evolito axial flux machine will bring world-beating levels of power density to the Flying Whales airship, designed to be the largest aircraft in the world.

SkyDrive has long taken a leadership role in Japan's eVTOL industry with sights on making flying cars as common as automobiles. This week, it released the first photos of its soon-to-debut three-seater after taking the next step toward certification.

Hybrid-electric aircraft maker Pipistrel just ushered its Nuuva V300 electric vertical takeoff and landing craft through a major milestone. A recent video shows it break the chains of gravity and hover midair in a first for the vehicle.

Imagine a massive high-tech helium balloon that stretches over an NFL football field in length, has more cargo capacity than an Airbus Beluga XL, and produces megawatts of power for nearly three dozen propellers. That's the Flying Whales LCA60T.

When we last looked at air taxi startup Lilium, it was in administration and had laid off most of its employees on December 20. Now it seems there was a Christmas miracle on December 24, with investors throwing out a US$206 million lifeline.

While Australia's Airspeeder is yet to race its sporty eVTOLs with pilots at the controls, Jetson's founder and CTO Tomasz Patan has taken its One flyer to the air for what's been billed as the birth of the world's first eVTOL air racing.

Swedish startup Heart Aerospace is gearing up for the first experimental flight of Heart X1 early next year, an electric demonstrator of a similar size to its upcoming 30-seater commercial plane. The company aims to launch passenger flights by 2028.

Honda doesn't just want to power future EVs with solid-state batteries; it wants to build the actual batteries. It took a big step this month, unveiling a demo production line that will be used to refine the batteries and manufacturing process.

Small aircraft manufacturer BETA Technologies has rolled the first electric plane off its fully scaled production line in Vermont. You can go along for the ride with this milestone-setting aircraft in a slick new video from the makers.

Astro Mechanica is an aerospace startup developing what it calls a "turboelectric adaptive engine", efficient for both subsonic and supersonic flight ... using electric car motor technology. And the suck-squeeze-bang-blow works.

We've been following Electra's ultra-short takeoff and landing electric hybrid prototype for some time and now the company has unveiled its EL9 Ultra Short production model that is designed to carry nine passengers at 175 knots (201 mph, 324 km/h).

China's EHang has completed what it calls the world's first solid-state battery test in a pilotless passenger-carrying eVTOL. With nearly 500 Wh/kg of energy density, the solid-state battery contributes to a serious boost in endurance.