Flying electric car startup Alef received 2,850 pre-orders

Alef Aeronautics, a flying electric car startup said it has received 2,850 pre-orders for its first vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle.

This two-seater flying vehicle has been reported 2,500 pre-orders in July last year. Alef Aeronautics has listed the new flying car at an expected price of $299,999 and the pre-order is priced at $150 for the general queue and $1,500 for the priority queue.

This deposit could be pulled at any time by the customer if they don’t want to retain their interest. With these new pre-orders, the total value of the orders reached around $850 million to date.

Alef’s CEO, Jim Dukhovny told CNBC that the new pre-orders make the vehicle “the bestselling aircraft in history, more than Boeing, Airbus, Joby Aviation and most of the eVTOLs combined.”

Other than the flying futuristic car, Alef is also developing a four-seater Model Z sedan that may be unveiled in 2035 with a price tag of $35,000.

Alef has some competitors in the flying car industry including Joby Avitation and German air taxi startup Lilium. South Korea’s SK Telecom also planning to launch tax services in partnership with Joby Aviation in 2025.

Despite being a futuristic transportation, EV giant Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is not optimistic about this concept.

Alef said its flying car can take off in the air vertically and fly forward above the obstacles until reaching a milestone. During this flight, the cabin and the seats will be stabilized by a rotating gimbaled interior.

This Model A will be able to drive on the road like a regular urban EV with almost similar dimensions. This car is designed to be 100 percent electric but there could be a hydrogen version with an even higher price.

It’s reported that Alef Model A could launch by the end of 2025 with production in the same year. Despite these claims, there’s no functional prototype has been revealed in public at the moment.