The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a test certificate for a vehicle that a California start-up describes as a flying car: It is the first all-electric vehicle that can fly and travel on roads to receive US government approval.
Alef Automotive said that its vehicle/aircraft, dubbed “Model A”, It is the first flying vehicle that can be driven on public roads and can be parked like a normal car. It also has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It will apparently be able to carry one or two occupants and will have a range of 200 miles (about 320 kilometers) on the road and 110 miles (170 kilometers) in flight.
vehicle value
The company expects to sell the vehicle for a value of US$300,000 with first delivery projected for late 2025.
The FAA confirmed that it issued the company a special certificate of airworthiness, which enables them for limited purposes that include exhibition, research and developmentcommented CNN.
Many companies are working on all-electric VTOL, which stands for takeoff and landing aircraft. The FAA said Alef’s “is not the first aircraft of its type” to obtain a special certificate of airworthiness. However, Alef pointed out that his vehicle is different due to its ability to function both on the roads and in the air, looking like a normal car and parking in a normal space.
New opportunities
“We are excited to receive this certification from the FAA. It allows us to get closer to enabling people to access faster and more environmentally friendly travel, saving both individuals and businesses time every week. This is one small step for planes, but one giant step for cars,” said Jim Dukhovny, Alef’s CEO.
“Low speed vehicle”
The company’s website said the flying car will be certified as a “low-speed vehicle,” meaning it won’t be able to go faster than 25 mph on a paved road. “The assumption is that if a driver needs to go faster, they will use Alef’s flight capabilities.”published the company on the site.
Anyway, you will also need approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to drive.
when i start the project
The vehicle has been in development since 2015. Four friends, Constantine Kisly, Pavel Markin, Oleg Petrov and Dukhovny, inspired by the movies “Back to the future” (who anticipated that flying cars would be available that year), decided to form a company to try to develop them.
According to the company, an initial automated test flight of a skeletal version of the car was successfully conducted in 2018, and the following year a full-size prototype was flown. But Alef said he needed the special certificate of airworthiness from the FAA to continue doing the necessary research and development.
The company also said that earlier this year it had taken refundable pre-orders for more than 400 of the vehicles, with a cost of US$150 to be in the general line or US$1,500 for the priority line.