Electric Aircraft

A pair of ex-SpaceX Falcon 9 engineers have founded a radically different eVTOL company, offering a unique combination of convenience and long range using a fascinating multi-stage aircraft with a detachable Lift vehicle for VTOL flight phases.

A speedy all-electric aircraft being developed with one eye on the record books has taken another step forward, with Rolls-Royce taking its Spirit of Innovation plane to the runway for the very first time.

We're all hoping for electric VTOL aircraft, but France's Ascendance isn't willing to wait for batteries and hydrogen to break through. The company says its Atea hybrid will deliver long-range VTOL travel with just 20 percent of a helicopter's emissions.

After recently revealing plans to have a flying taxi station ready for action in Florida midway through the decade, Lilium has expanded on this vision, signing an agreement to build a network of at least 10 so-called vertiports across the state.

Short takeoff and landing aircraft might prove an efficient alternative to eVTOLs in the early days of electric flight, using super-short runways – maybe even on top of buildings – while flying much farther on a charge than the eVTOLs.

From 1935 to 1948, French manufacturer Avions Mauboussin was known for its light sporting aircraft. Its name has now been revived, by a French startup that plans on building hybrid STOL (short take-off and landing) airplanes.

Lilium is one of a number of startups working to make flying taxis a reality, and is now offering folks a new look at its vision by divulging plans for its first “vertiport” planned for Orlando, Florida, in 2025.

Every pound counts when you're trying to squeeze range out of an electric aircraft, so when Minneapolis company H3X says it can deliver continuous power at around a third the weight of current motors, it could be huge for clean aviation.

Although there are now a few different crop-spraying multicopter drones, fixed-wing drones are faster and have a longer battery range. That's where the recently US-certified autonomous electric Pelican crop duster comes into the picture.

Paris Region, ADP and RATP are eyeing the development of an urban air mobility branch ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, and have joined forces with German air taxi startup Volocopter to make it happen.

ZeroAvia says it completed the world's first hydrogen-fuel-cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft when a modified Piper M-class six-seater plane took off from its facility in England, and completed a full-pattern circuit before landing.

Having tested out its aircraft in Dubai, Singapore, Helsinki and Germany, Volocopter is now turning its attention to Japan through a new agreement with Japan Airlines, and is preparing for a commercial launch in the country within a few years.