electric aircraft

Alphabet’s Loon and SoftBank’s HAPSMobile turn solar-powered drones into flying cell towers

Alphabet-owned Loon, the company that had been focused on delivering internet communications to remote areas via stratospheric balloons, has completed development work on a new payload for partner HAP

Wisk signs deal to deploy an air taxi trial in New Zealand

Air mobility company Wisk has signed an agreement with the New Zealand government to set up and run an air taxi trial in the region of Canterbury, with the goal of flying passengers once its Cora airc

Joby Aviation raises $590 million led by Toyota to launch an electric air taxi service

Joby Aviation has raised a $590 million Series C round of funding, including $394 million from lead investor Toyota Motor Corporation, the company announced today. Joby is in the process of developing

Watch a full test flight of Lilium’s all-electric urban aircraft

These days, it seems like everyone is building their own electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The race is clearly on to develop these vehicles in a bid to anticipate the next major

Volocopter awarded key designation by European aviation safety regulator

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker Volocotper has received a Design Organization Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This is basically a rec

Volocopter unveils a new eVTOL drone for heavy lift cargo flights

Urban air mobility company Volocopter has focused its efforts to date on getting its passenger electric drone business off the ground — literally, in fact. But now, the German startup has unveil

Sources: Lilium is looking to raise up to $500M for its electric flying taxis

“Flying cars” — airborne vehicles designed for urban and other short-distance commutes to replace conventional private automobiles — are (at best) still years away from being a

NASA’s first all-electric experimental X-plane is ready for testing

NASA will fly in the near future a crewed X-plane, one of the experimental aircraft it created to test various technologies, for the first time in two decades. This X-plane, the X-57 Maxwell to be exa

Volocopter’s 2X eVTOL records a first with flight at Helsinki International Airport

The Volocopter 2X air taxi vehicle is now the first electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft to fly at an international airport, fully integrated into the same airspace as other commercial

Volocopter reveals its first commercial aircraft, the VoloCity air taxi

It’s a race to the skies in terms of which company actually deploys an on-demand air taxi service based around electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. For its part, German startup Voloc

In addition to urban air mobility, why not rural air mobility?

Let’s explore a new form of connectivity for rural communities.

Electric flying taxi service Lilium poaches key hires from Audi, Airbus

Lilium, the developer of a new electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle for a novel flying taxi service, has poached some pretty big former executives from Airbus and Audi as it builds out its t

Quoth the Robo-Raven, “Recharge me!”

Researchers at the University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering have been working on the so-called Robo Raven for years. The ongoing project resulted in the first flying drone with inde

Zunum Aero bets on hybrid electric engines for its small commuter jet

The traditional aviation industry typically moves rather slowly, but over the last few years, we’ve seen a number of upstarts that are challenging the status quo both in the general and commerci

The electric aircraft is taking off

In 2008, the electric motor vehicle experienced a rebirth triggered by a rise in oil prices. Now in 2018, it is the time for another rebirth -- in electrical aviation.

Watch the Airbus Project Vahana prototype autonomous air taxi take flight

Airbus recently had the first ever successful flight of its Vahana autonomous air vehicle, and now it’s released video of that pivotal moment in the aircraft’s development. The flight took

The Airbus Vahana flying taxi actually flew for the first time

Seems like just yesterday Airbus’ Vahana autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft was little more than a painted concept, but now it’s actually flown, during a full-s

This Electric Plane Is Powered By Its Own By Solar Hangar

Aviation enthusiasts interested in greener flying might put an Elektra One plane on their wish lists. <a href="http://www.pc-aero.de/">PC-Aero</a>'s electric aircraft can fly for up to three hours on