Flying cars receive more than 2,000 orders even though they have not been produced yet

US Alef Aeronautics - a startup in California - says it has received 2,500 pre-orders for the flying car, which is expected to go on sale in 2025.

Alef confirmed that 2,100 deposits came from individual customers, another 400 orders from businesses, including an agreement with a car dealer in California.

The startup started accepting pre-orders for the Model A eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) model from October 2022 with two options: a $150 deposit for the regular class, or a $1,500 deposit for the priority class.

Alef Model A prototype with a mesh body, below are wheels and propellers. Photo: CNet

Alef says their all-electric model could theoretically take off from anywhere thanks to its wingless design and then fly 177 kilometers on a single charge. However, users can also drive on the ground with a journey of 322 km. The Model A can carry a driver and a passenger.

The flying car model has been granted a certificate of special airworthiness by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), CNN reported on July 3. Alef also promotes the Model A as the first conventional electric vehicle to be certified with this identification.

The certification from the FAA will allow Alef to test the Model A in limited locations for display, research and development, for example near the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Founded in 2015, Alef has attracted investment from a number of companies and is recently opening a new round of funding. Alef's flying car is different from other products in the same segment by design. Model A takes the form of a regular car, in which the propellers responsible for flying are not exposed, but are covered by a mesh body.

Model A is expected to go into production in the fourth quarter of 2025 with delivery shortly thereafter. An agreement between Alef and a California auto dealer means customers can go to a place that normally sells cars to buy a flying car.

Flying cars - expensive vehicles for the near future
When flying cars become a reality, the price of this special vehicle could be more expensive than even Ferrari's most advanced model.

Pentagon Motor Group did research in the UK and found that the cost of a flying car can be as high as $686,500, more expensive than a 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale. The Italian supercar is currently selling for $625,000.

Shakeel Hussain, chief marketing officer at Pentagon, said: "While the projected cost of a flying car is almost unrealistic, it is important to remember that this is a luxury product and that the technology is still in its infancy. Likewise, the cost of the first electric cars was also very high at first and then gradually decreased, becoming more affordable and popular."

Terrafugia's flying car. Photo: Terrafugia

According to Hussain, most of the flying cars produced have high-end features, such as foldable wings, a range of up to 965 km thanks to a large fuel tank, and two rocket engines, all of which require a high cost. large production costs. Therefore, it is not surprising that the car sold will come with a price list. But in the eyes of millionaires or billionaires, this cost is not "in the sky", because it is only on par with top-notch supercar models like the Ferrari SF90 Stradale. At launch, flying cars may have the same customer segment as supercars, but owners have a big advantage - they can fly in the sky.

In addition to the price of the car, customers will have to pay an additional $ 37,000 for a flying driver's license, $ 17,000 for insurance, nearly $ 14,000 for parking and about $ 800 for fuel. That means owners will have to spend about $69,000 more for the first year of ownership, according to Pentagon research.

The models in the study include products of AeroMobil (Slovakia), PAL-V (Netherlands), Aska (USA), Moller International (Canada), Terrafugia (USA) and SkyDrive (Japan).

Right in June, Klein Vision's concept convertible hybrid flying car, called AirCar, successfully flew from one airport to another in Slovakia. The test flight distance is 170 km, the car can reach an altitude of more than 2,400 m and transform into a car in less than 3 minutes.