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Almost six many years after the Jetsons predicted a world of flying vehicles and houses within the sky within the Hanna-Barbera animated TV collection, India might lastly be gearing up for flying passenger taxis.
Almost six many years after the Jetsons predicted a world of flying vehicles and houses within the sky within the Hanna-Barbera animated TV collection, India might lastly be gearing up for flying passenger taxis.
Satya Chakravarthy, a professor on the aerospace division within the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the co-founder and chief expertise officer, ePlane Co., expects to launch unmanned drones and a two-seater electrical aircraft and ferry cargo within the subsequent two years. Chakravarthy hopes to hitch the ranks of world air-taxi startups like Slovenia’s Pipistrel, UK’s Vertical Aerospace and Skyfall, Germany’s Volocopter, Sweden’s Jetson Aero, US-based ASKA and Joby Aviation and China’s EHang.
Satya Chakravarthy, a professor on the aerospace division within the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the co-founder and chief expertise officer, ePlane Co., expects to launch unmanned drones and a two-seater electrical aircraft and ferry cargo within the subsequent two years. Chakravarthy hopes to hitch the ranks of world air-taxi startups like Slovenia’s Pipistrel, UK’s Vertical Aerospace and Skyfall, Germany’s Volocopter, Sweden’s Jetson Aero, US-based ASKA and Joby Aviation and China’s EHang.
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ePlane Co, owned and operated by Ubifly Technologies Pvt. Ltd, was based in 2017 and launched in 2019 by Chakravarthy and his pupil Pranjal Mehta. The Chennai-based deeptech startup , with round 70 workers, is a part of Kerala Startup Mission and incubated at IIT-M. It is growing an electric-flying taxi to ferry passengers inside metropolis limits “at 2-2.5 instances the price of a daily taxi fare”, said Chakravarthy.
The electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle could land on terraces of parking decks, dedicated spaces in malls, and other public places, he added. “They (landing stations for eVTOLs) will be classified as new helipads. As we increase the number of planes and landing sites, and the network becomes bigger and bigger, we can probably get this differential (cost) down to about 1.5 times. We believe the market is ready, and there are enough people who will be willing to pay for a 10x reduction in travel time.” ePlane has designed three UAV or unmanned aerial car fashions—the e6, e50 and e200. While the e6 has been designed to ship packages weighing as much as 6 kg, it will also be used for long-range surveillance. e50 is India’s first drone outfitted with VTOL capabilities, and designed to hold as much as a 50-kg payload. “Currently testing is underway. The group is gearing up for untethered assessments very quickly,” Chakravarthy said. The all-electric flying taxi, or e200, is the flagship product— designed to transport passenger and cargo 10x faster.
Chakravarthy said ePlane can “optimistically do it (commercially launch the e200) in the first half of 2025 but realistically, it will be able to launch commercially by the second half”. “I’ve to carry out a battery of assessments together with floor assessments earlier than I can get the certification to commercialize the operations.” Getting an Indian certification to fly drones and e-planes, is not easy, he added.
To begin with, drone rules in India allow for up to 500 kg of weight of an aircraft to be classified as a drone. “Hence, technically, the cargo variant (unmanned variant) maybe classified as a drone. But the configuration is pretty much the same for passenger electric planes and cargo drones since both are VTOLs, but the plane has wings and a front tail, too, and will carry passengers. So, this version will actually come under aircraft rules, and the certification has to come from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,” Chakravarthy defined. ePlane additionally has to conceptualize the “flight paths from level A to level B, and we’re growing an (machine studying) algorithm for it”.
But why an electric plane? “The answer is very simple. It’s about cost. In the future, we should opt for larger electric planes. The main reason is its asset cost, maintenance cost, and operating cost. The disadvantage is you still have fairly short ranges to live with. We have targeted 200 km per single charge. There are others who are targeting 300 km and more,” Chakravarthy mentioned. The e200 can fly at a cruise velocity of 160 km per hour.
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