A California company that builds a flying electric car is now accepting pre-orders.
The Alef Aeronautics flying car has received a special certificate of airworthiness from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning the company will find a way to check the car on the road/in the air, the company said in a press release.
The all-electric vehicle (with a hydrogen option for a better price) is a low-speed vehicle that may run as much as 200 miles on public roads and is housed in a traditional garage, but may launch vertically into the air with a flight range of 110 miles, in response to Alef’s website.
The company’s “Model A” car “can fly forward over obstacles until it reaches its desired destination,” the San Mateo-based company says.
“The driver and cab are stabilized by the unique gimbal-jointed rotating cab.”
Alef touts the car’s ability to avoid traffic jams, fly in any direction, while providing a “180-degree cinematic view for a secure and enjoyable flight.”
Customers can pre-order a vehicle which might seat as much as two people, is predicted to cost around $300,000.
An FAA spokesperson told Fox Business that “On June 12, 2023, it issued a special certificate of airworthiness for the Armada Model Zero aircraft. This certification allows the aircraft for use for limited purposes, including exhibitions, research and development. This will not be the first aircraft of this kind for which the FAA has issued a special certificate of airworthiness.”
Alef first unveiled the car last October and said it has already garnered a “large” variety of pre-orders from people and businesses.
The FAA is working on a take-off and landing policy for electric vehicles, the company said.
“We’re thrilled to receive this certification from the FAA,” Alef CEO Jim Dukhovny, who co-founded the company in 2015, said in a press release.
Dukhovny and co-founders Constantine Kisly, Pavel Markin and Oleg Petrovwere were first inspired to create a flying car in 2015 once they realized it was the same yr that Marty McFly drove it in Back to the Future II, website says.
“During one in every of his Science Fiction lectures, Jim Dukhovny talked about how flying cars are finally possible in 2015,” the website reads.
“Nonetheless, he lacked the technical skills to undertake such a fancy task on his own.”
The 4 met in a coffee shop and decided to design a flying car.
Dukhovny added that the certification “brings us one step closer to providing individuals with an environmentally friendly and faster commute, saving individuals and businesses hours each week. It’s one small step for airplanes, one giant step for cars.”
Fox Business contacted Alef Aero for comment.