Aleph Aviation is in the early stages of developing a vehicle it hopes will be able to drive on and fly above roads.
It’s a rare exception in the competitive field of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which despite being often called “flying cars” are not suitable for operation on the ground.
“An eVTOL is basically an electric helicopter,” Jim Dukhovny, co-founder and CEO of Alef Aeronautics, told CNBC Tech: The Edge. “We’re trying to build a vehicle that can take off vertically and fly efficiently.”
The team behind Alef first met in a coffee shop in 2015, where Duchovny scrawled his idea for a flying car on a napkin. Eight years later, they are still under construction.
“If everything goes well, if we have enough funding, if the legislation doesn’t make it worse… we plan to start producing the first one by the end of 2025.”
However, unlike its eVTOL competitors, Alef requires approval from two regulatory agencies: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The company’s most famous backer is venture capitalist Tim Draper, an early investor in Tesla, SpaceX and Theranos. Duchovny said it took Draper about a year to send a check.
“Tim wanted to make sure it not only made sense commercially. He wanted to make sure it made engineering sense as well.”
Alef is also taking pre-orders. For a $150 deposit, customers can purchase the Model A when it becomes available. Duchovny told CNBC there are currently 3,000 customers on the waiting list.
However, owning an Alef aircraft will come with a hefty price tag of $300,000.
“The price tag comes from the cost, what it costs us to make a product today. We pretty much make it all here, by hand, a lot of man-hours and so on,” Duchovny said.
Watch the video above for CNBC Tech: The Edge’s interview with Alef Aeronautics’ Jim Dukhovny and Director of Research and Development Oleg Petrov.
About The Author
