SpaceX-Funded Flying Car Already Has Nearly 3000 Orders

It sounds like a science fiction scenario, but US startup Alef Aeronautics is actually working on a flying car. Not a giant drone, but a real car, as they emphasize. The company owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX is based in San Mateo, California, and said pre-orders for the Alef Model A have already reached 2850 units.

It is a futuristic vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle with a retail price set at $300,000. It should be mentioned that all it takes to put your trust in this project is $150.

For the two-seat Model A, production is expected to begin as early as 2025/2026, but longer-term plans already include a 4-seat Model Z, which the startup intends to sell for the same price as a conventional electric car.

And unlike other models in the design phase that are essentially like maxi-drones, Alef explains that it wants to create a real car that drives like a traditional vehicle but actually flies. The model unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (February 26-29, 2024), though smaller in size, essentially resembles a traditional car in every way. Alef CEO Jim Dukhovny claims it will be “the first flying car in history.” “I know someone has claimed to have built the first flying car,” Dukhovny told CNBC. “But we’ve always had the idea that it should be a car, a physical car, a conventional car, as you can see, it’s an eVTOL, an electric car.”