Electric Aircraft

Another air record has been (unofficially) broken as a prop-driven solar/electric aircraft reached the highest altitude yet for its type. On August 12, 2025, a modified Elektra One reached 31,237 feet (9,521 m) in the skies over Switzerland.

Electra is building an aircraft that can take off and land using an airfield that's one-tenth the size of a standard runway. To demonstrate "blown lift" aero and hybrid-electric propulsion capabilities, the EL2 prototype has just aced test flights.

BETA Technologies has delivered its ALIA CX300 electric CTOL to the company's first customer. The short-hop passenger aircraft will now be used to evaluate use cases and possible routes for zero-emission operation in the Nordic region.

Air-mobility startup FlyNow Aviation has removed the tethers from its stacked dual-rotor electric helicopter pod thing, and recorded the eCopter's first free flight at a test facility in Eastern Austria.

Designed to provide the range, speed and convenience conventional e-aircraft and e-boats lack, the otherworldly Regent Viceroy Seaglider has completed a major milestone, demonstrating the hydrofoil capabilities that serve as one of its three modes.

EDAG Group has a long history of creating some of the wildest vehicle concepts out there, including a pop-up sports car camper. Now it's jumping into the next generation of mobility, building the structure for the production AIR One short-hop eVTOL.

After flying the first production ALIA CX300 electric aircraft last November, BETA Technologies has now zipped four passengers into the John F. Kennedy International Airport, marking a key development milestone.

Scientists have developed a fuel cell system which they say could ultimately have enough energy capacity to power regional electric aircraft. They state that the technology is capable of carrying over three times as much energy per unit of weight as a lithium-ion battery.

It looks like the age of the robotic warrior is here. The RAF has revealed that a radar-jamming combat drone called StormShroud will be deployed to support Britain's F-35B Lightning II and Typhoon fighters using lessons learned from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Joby Aviation achieved a major milestone on April 22, 2025 when it became the first company to fly an all-electric tilt-rotor eVTOL with a pilot aboard as it transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight and back again.

After demonstrating a super-efficient, ultra-quiet leaf blower, Whisper Aero has secured funding to fit its WhisperDrive propulsion technology to a glider and begin test flights. Its innovative ducted fans promise extreme efficiency and low noise.

One of the most fascinating aircraft in the eVTOL space has moved into flight testing with a new large-scale prototype. Cyclotech's Blackbird airframe becomes the world's first aircraft to fly with six barrel-shaped "Cyclorotors" for propulsion.