The race to build a flying electric taxi

By: BBC

October 22, 2019

For any commuter the prospect of being whisked to and from work in a fraction of the time it usually takes is pretty irresistible.

No traffic jams, no train delays and no cold platforms – what’s not to love?

This is the promise of more than a hundred companies developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Like helicopters they don’t need a runway, but unlike helicopters they promise to be quiet and cheap.

Yet the dream seems to be some way off. Industry experts say that taxi services using such aircraft won’t be a mass-market phenomenon until the 2030s.

So what is the hold up?