The Alef A flying car is on sale – taxis could be on the way in three years

The Alef A model is a flying car being sold by Alef Aeronautics for around $300,000. It is expected to be available for purchase in 2025 and has a range of over 300 km on land and 177 km in the air. It can hold one or two passengers. You can place an order for the car on the company’s website for $150, but if you want priority production, you will need to pay an additional $1,500 on top of the purchase price.

The flying car with four propellers could be most useful in traffic jams, at least according to a presentation by one of the founders, who also showed that the A-type will be able to take off horizontally and avoid any obstacle, just like drones – as long as there is nothing to prevent it from taking off in that area.

Later, in 2035, a cheaper version will be available: the Model Z will be able to travel 643 and 321 kilometres in a single trip, carry four to six passengers and cost almost a tenth of the price of its predecessor.

The design is extraordinary, the sides of the car will be the wings when the plane is horizontal, said Tim Draper, a former Tesla and SpaceX investor who invested $3 million in the project.

The main difference between the Alef A model and competing prototypes is that it can travel on wheels on the ground, something few have been able to do.

You won’t be able to drive the Xpeng X2 either, as it “only” flies for now, but they promise to fix this problem for the “Chinese Tesla” in time. The fifth-generation, two-seater X2, capable of a top speed of 130 km/h, was recently unveiled at the Gitex 2022 technology show in Dubai – without a pilot or passengers. The lightweight, carbon-fibre construction of the 560kg vehicle makes it unsuitable for road use, but the next example will have wheels and resemble a real car.

Source: cars.usnews.com