Electric Aircraft

Zero-emissions long-distance aviation is absolutely possible... Provided you're not in a hurry. Solar Airship One will take 20 days to fly all the way around the equator, some 40,000 km (~25,000 miles), in a single zero-emissions hop.

Liquid hydrogen is a giant pain to handle, but it's one of the few technologies with a genuine chance of decarbonizing long-range flight. So it's huge news for clean aviation that H2Fly has now landed the word's first piloted liquid hydrogen flight.

Piloting a cruise-capable eVTOL aircraft will be unlike flying anything that's come before it, thanks to fully digital fly-by-wire flight control systems. We jumped in Lilium's motion-rig simulator to learn how the system feels from the cockpit.

eHang is set to become the world's first company to get an electric VTOL air taxi type certified and into commercial service, after successfully completing its entire flight test program with China's aviation authority. Oh, and it's autonomous.

Leading UK eVTOL company Vertical Aerospace has suffered an expensive-looking setback just weeks into its off-tether flight test program. Its VX4 air taxi prototype reportedly hit the deck from about 20 ft up, snapping a wing and making quite a mess.

When most folk think about flying cars, we think of machines that seamlessly convert from street to air mode, that can take off and land vertically, and that can cruise in the air and on the highway. The US$789,000 Aska A5 promises to do it all.

UK-based Vertical Aerospace has started flight-testing its full-size electric air taxi, but is now targeting a 2026 debut. The tilt-rotor VX4 eVTOL seats up to five, and promises more than 100 miles (160 km) of range, at speeds up to 200 mph (322 km/h).

Doroni has hit a milestone in the development of its two-seat, US$195,000 buy 'n' fly eVTOL aircraft. Recently, CEO Doron Merdinger was confident enough to hop in and put his own butt on the line, taking a prototype for its first manned flight.

The four-seat Aska A5 is the size of an SUV, but at the touch of a button it extends an array of electric propellers and converts to a cruise-capable eVTOL aircraft with an impressive hybrid range. The FAA has cleared it for flight testing.

The first production prototype has rolled off Joby Aviation's production line in Marina, California, and the FAA has cleared it to begin flight tests with a special airworthiness certificate. It's likely to be the first eVTOL delivered to a customer.

One of the eVTOL world's oddest ducks has announced a milestone of sorts. Alef's Model A is a US$300,000 electric car that's ... kinda street legal, but also capable of a very unique form of flight. The company has announced limited FAA certification.

In an aerospace example of the operation being a success but the patient dying, NASA has declared a satisfactory end to its X-57 Maxwell all-electric aircraft project, despite the fact that the research plane will never leave the ground.