With 250 km of range, this eVTOL sets a distance record

AutoFlight has broken the world record for distance held by an electric VTOL aircraft, lending credibility to the commercial operation of such a craft in 2025.

The idea of a flying, electric, or even autonomous taxi capable of connecting two hard-to-reach points in record time is no longer science fiction. Over the past few years, various projects with different technical solutions have been competing fiercely to dominate this market, which is expected to be highly profitable in the near future.

The German company AutoFlight is at the forefront of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing in English), a term that defines electric aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing. On February 23, 2023, it set the world record for the longest flight in history, covering a distance of 250 km on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries.

The achievement involved executing twenty loops of a predefined flight plan in the German sky. The aircraft— a fourth-generation model— was remotely piloted, and the entire flight was recorded by third-party avionics— ForeFlight— which was to certify the record.

This flight is another step forward in the development of the Prosperity I eVTOL, which aims to obtain European airworthiness certification by 2025. For this, AutoFlight adopted a ten-rotor architecture to vertically lift the craft, and three rear propellers for forward propulsion. A pragmatic solution for managing the difficult transition phases involved in vertical takeoff aircraft.

With such an operational radius, the Prosperity I will carry passengers and their luggage, with a maximum payload of 400 kg, at a cruising speed of 210 km/h.

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