You Can Buy This Alef Electric Flying Car For The Same Price As A Bentley Continental GT

Back in the 1960s when The Jetsons TV show previewed the future of humanity, people were fascinated by the concept of flying cars, video calls, smartwatches, AI chatbots, androids and more. While some of those scientific breakthroughs are now a part of our daily lives, the personal flying car remains a distant dream.

Engineers have been trying to achieve flight with cars for decades and the most common implementation includes foldable wings and a propeller stuck to the nose. Amid these wacky experiments though, Alef Aeronautics demonstrated an electric flying car concept that could check one more item from the list of science fiction imaginations.

Called the Alef Model A, this electric flying car started life on a napkin at a coffee shop in California and after eight years of development, a dummy model was shown at the Detroit Motor Show in 2023. This is the first flying car concept that does away with massive wings and an awkward design and instead looks like a modern-day EV.

Although the Model A electric car is yet to undergo a test flight despite nabbing the FAA certification, Alef believes that the evolution of future personal mobility will be led by its electric flying car.

What’s even better is that Alef Aeronautics may be able to sell it for the same price as the Bentley Continental GT luxury limousine. Alef’s founder even reckons that they can sell it for the same price as a Toyota Corolla once it hits mass production.

Does that mean the Alef flying car is the one we have been waiting for decades?

The first electric flying car is unlike anything you’ve ever seen

When most other flying cars were designed to fly long distances, the Alef Model A was conceptualised with a different approach. Alef’s design team wanted it to be an electric car first and would only fly for a short span with basic VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) capability for avoiding obstacles, reveals founder and CEO Jim Dukhovny.

Throughout its development phase though, Dukhovny and his team got feedback on the various ways this electric car could be useful. From air ambulances to rescue vehicles, the electric flying car could solve several issues. Hence, the Alef Model A had to take off, fly forward, land and drive on the streets.

For the roadways, the car will rely on four skinny tyres hidden behind the bodywork, each of them attached to individual electric motors. This setup should take care of all the propulsion needs on the road as an EV.

When it needs to be airborne, the Model A concept uses eight electric propellers contained within its bodyshell, which itself features a carbon fibre mesh on the hood and trunk to allow airflow. Once the vehicle starts hovering, the body of the car rotates by 90 degrees, thereby turning the car into a makeshift biplane. The driver (or pilot?) can use the electric propellers to move forward.

As you arrive at your destination, the car switches from horizontal to vertical flight mode and safely lands on the ground. If there’s enough juice in the batteries, you will be able to drive it further. Hence, an entire flight can be achieved without attaching or folding massive wings.

The current concept allows the Model A to be theoretically suitable for low-altitude flights. However, with more investments flowing in, Alef wants to pressurise the cabin to reach higher altitudes. Work is also being done on trimming the tyres and developing a hydrogen-based propulsion system as an alternative to the electric motor arrangement.

Unlike other flying car concepts that require a pilot’s knowledge, Alef’s CEO believes that anyone can learn to fly and drive this vehicle in 15 minutes. “If you can tell the difference between the right, left, up, down, front and back, you can do this. It’s pretty much the only controls it has,” says Dukhovny.

Alef flying car’s price: It costs a lot less than you think!

Although the concept sounds too good to be true, you can gauge the Model A’s future by Alef Aeronautic’s confidence. The car currently carries a sticker price of USD 300,000 (approximately HKD 2.3 million), which is almost the same price you pay for a top-spec Bentley or Maybach sedan. Such a price limits it to the well-heeled but that didn’t stop 2,800 souls from pre-ordering the Model A.

Alef claims that once the vehicle enters the stage of mass production, it won’t cost more than a Toyota Corolla, which is an accessible 4-door sedan sold in the USA.

The Model A is far from a finished product but if the rumours are to be believed, this electric flying car could take to the skies by the end of 2025.

(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy Alef)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

– What is the price of Alef’s flying car?
The Alef electric flying car carries a price tag of USD 300,000.

– Can we pre-order Alef’s flying car?
Yes, you can pre-order the Alef electric flying car from the company’s website.