eVTOL

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.

Xpeng AeroHT is developing a stunning dual-mode transporter it calls the "Land Aircraft Carrier," a 6-wheel van built to launch a small eVTOL out its trunk. The vessel has been progressing rapidly and now has a full demo launch under its belt.

If air taxi services ever take off, you might want to hold onto your hat very firmly. A new FAA report looking at various eVTOL prototypes shows that when they take off and land they have a downwash from rotors equivalent to hurricane-force wind.

The "world’s first amphibious flying passenger motorcycle," called the Skyrider X1, has just been unveiled at CES in Las Vegas. It rides, it flies – autonomously, no less – and it’ll be pretty darn wild if it does what it says on the tin.

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.

On the heels of eVTOL startup Lilium shutting down, air taxi builder Volocopter may close its doors having filed for insolvency due to lack of funds. On December 26, 2024, the Karlsruhe Local Court in Germany placed the company in administration.

German eVTOL startup Lilium has ceased operations as of this week – sunsetting a decade-long effort funded with over $1 billion to build electric air taxis, with nary a single aircraft delivered.

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.

In a major development at the nexus of military and commercial technology, Archer Aviation and Anduril Industries have announced an exclusive partnership aimed at the militarized vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) sector.

Another day, another wild electrified aircraft concept that reimagines the future of air travel. This time around, it's a turbine-electric hybrid that tilts its ducted electric fans to offer helicopter versatility with airplane range and efficiency.

Monash University researchers' new lithium-sulfur battery tech delivers roughly twice the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, as well as speedy charging and discharging – enabling the sort of power delivery that's critical for eVTOL flight.