California startup, Alef Aeronautics is testing a flying car prototype and has received an FAA certification for the first fully flying electric vehicle that can also travel on roads to receive US government approval. This flying car prototype electric vehicle can go from driving to flying by launching straight up into the air like a drone.
Called Armada Model Zero, the vehicle is a precursor to the Alef Model A prototype unveiled in October 2022.
First of its kind flying car
Alef Automotive said that its flying electric vehicle, dubbed the “Model A,” is the first flying vehicle that is drivable on public roads and able to park like a normal car. Alef Model A also has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. Suspended in the center of the carbon fiber frame is the passenger cabin, apparently will be able to carry one or two occupants and is set on a pivoting platform known as a gimbal. Meanwhile, the cabin itself automatically swivels on its axis so it always faces forward.
The range of the flying electric vehicle will be 200 miles on the road and 110 miles in the air.
Once in the air, the vehicle’s entire frame rotates sideways by 90 degrees so that what was once the front and back of the car become two wings on either side of the cabin for maximum speed.
The company expects to sell the flying electric vehicle, for $300,000 each with the first delivery projected by end of 2025.
Importance of FAA certification
The flying car prototype has received the FAA certification which is a special airworthiness certificate, allowing for limited purposes that include exhibition, research and development.
The electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle by California company Alef Aeronautics, which has four wheels and eight rotors integrated into its frame, can now be tested in public flight demonstrations for the first time.
Numerous companies are working on all-electric VTOLs, which stands for vehicle takeoff and landing aircraft. The FAA said that Alef Model A is “not the first aircraft of its kind” to get a special airworthiness certificate. However, Alef Modal A is a different vehicle as per the company because of its ability to function both on roads and in the air, to appear like a normal car and to park in a normal parking space.
We’re excited to receive this certification from the FAA. It allows us to move closer to bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute, saving individuals and companies hours each week. This is a one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,” said Jim Dukhovny, the CEO of Alef.
The company’s website said the flying car prototype will be certified as a “low speed vehicle,” which means it won’t be able to go faster than about 25 miles per hour on a paved road. “The assumption is that, if a driver needs a faster route, a driver will use Alef’s flight capabilities,” the company posted on the site.
Regardless, it still needs approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to go on roads.
Inception of flying electric vehicle
Development has been underway on the flying electric vehicle since 2015. Four friends, Constantine Kisly, Pavel Markin, Oleg Petrov and Dukhovny, inspired by the “Back to the Future” movies, decided to form a company to try to develop them.
According to the company, an initial automated test flight of a skeleton version of the car was successfully conducted in 2018, and a full-size flying car prototype in 2019. But Alef said that it needed the special airworthiness FAA certification to continue conducting the necessary research and development.
The company also said that earlier this year that it had taken refundable pre-orders for more than 400 of the flying electric vehicles, with the cost of $150 for to be in the general queue or $1,500 for the priority queue.
Competition
Other contenders vying to be the first flying car that is actually approved for public use include Volkswagen’s prototype Flying Tiger and the AirCar by Klein Vision, which was granted an airworthiness certificate in Slovakia last year.
Hyundai Motor Europe president Michael Cole previously said that he believed flying electric vehicles would be in our cities by 2030.
