Who says electric flying cars are just science fiction? Alef Aeronautics made history by sharing a video of its electric car driving and then taking off vertically in public. The footage captures the vehicle lifting off and soaring over another car. Watch “the world’s first real flying car” in action below.
Alef’s CEO, Jim Dukhovny, said the company is “providing to humanity that new transportation is possible.”
The company has been working on the development of the flying car for about a decade. It has already shown a prototype in 2017, an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX, his venture capital firm Draper Associates, backed Alef with $3 million in seed funding.
Alef made waves online in 2022 when it introduced a prototype of its flying car, the Model A. The company claimed that this fully electric vehicle can travel up to 220 miles on the road and has a flight range of 110 miles.
Less than a year later, the Model A became the first flying car to receive a Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Alef also became the first company to secure pre-orders for an aircraft through a car dealership.
This week, Alef made history once again by releasing a video showcasing an “ultralight version” of its flying car successfully taking flight in California.
Alef said it’s the “first-ever video in the history of a car driving and vertically taking off.” While past videos have featured tethered flights, runway takeoffs, and eVTOL flying taxis, this marks the first public footage of a car driving and then taking off vertically on a city street. For safety, the road was temporarily closed.
The above video almost looks fake and feels like a scene from a sci-fi movie, but it really took place. You can see the flying car take flight and jump over another vehicle. To prove that flying cars drive off-road Alef showed a separate video where it can still drive like a typical vehicle.
The company also claims its flying car is “100% electric, derivable on public roads, and has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It also has mass manufacturing agreements with PUCARA Aero and MYC, which supply industry giants like Boeing and Airbus with aviation-grade parts.
So far, Alef’s electric flying car has received 3,300 pre-orders, with prices starting at approximately $300,000. Interested buyers can reserve one on Alef’s website with a $150 deposit, while a $1,500 payment secures a spot in the priority queue.
The company aims to begin Model A production later this year, with the first deliveries to follow. Meanwhile, Alef is already developing its second flying car, the “Model Z,” expected to launch in 2035 at a starting price of around $35,000.
