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Look: Compact flying taxi ‘takes off’ at Expo 2020 Dubai's India Pavilion

The cargo carrier is expected to be rolled out by February 2023 and the passenger version is expected by December 2024.

Published: Wed 23 Feb 2022, 11:26 AM

Updated: Wed 23 Feb 2022, 7:02 PM

  • By
  • SM Ayaz Zakir

Innovation hub at the Expo 2020 Dubai's India Pavilion has showcased many breakthrough technologies and discoveries in science, healthcare, defence among other sectors. The new innovation that is being showcased is a sustainable solution to commute within the city in the future -- a flying taxi.

The Indian origin ePlane Company is in pursuit of building the world’s most compact flying electric taxis to alleviate congestion in cities worldwide. The company is working towards developing electric air transportation systems for intracity commute and cargo transport and aim at taking this technology to the global markets, including the Middle East, the US and Western Europe.

Incubated out of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, our company was founded in 2017 by Professor Satya Chakravarthy, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras, and Pranjal Mehta, a 2019 IIT Madras Graduate.

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Located in Chennai, India, their team is growing with passionate people coming together from diverse backgrounds and cultures across India, helping them understand and tackle problems with increased efficiency across different aspects of their products.

Professor Chakravarthy said that the ePlane has eight propellers and can accommodate two passengers. “Our flagship product, the ePlane e200, is India's first revolutionary electric air transportation system that focuses on delivering an immersive intracity user experience of transporting people from their doorstep to their end destination in significantly less time and more affordability,” said the Professor Chakravarthy.

“Cities need safe, quiet, and pollution-free transport. The markets need affordable, high mileage, and quickly certifiable products. Consumers need accessible, affordable and on-demand travel. So, we envision achieving all these goals with our products, helping people travel 10x faster and saving them a significant amount of time,” Said Mehta.

Recently, the prototype has also been tested, a scaled-down prototype of the e200 is expected to have the first cargo e200 plane ready as early as next year. The cargo carrier is expected to be rolled out by February 2023 and the passenger version is expected by December 2024.

“Our end goal is to offer safe, efficient, sustainable and completely electric aviation for the masses around the world,” said Mehta.

Stats:

Altitude: 1500ft

Range: 200km

Speed: 160kmph

Most compact eVTOL

ayaz@khaleejtimes.com



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