Alef Aeronautics begins accepting pre-orders for Model A flying electric car

Alef Aeronautics’ flying car received a special certificate of airworthiness from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which means the developer will be able to conduct road/air tests of the car in the near future, writes the New York Post, citing the company press office.

The FAA representative clarified that the certificate received so far is only for testing and demonstrations at exhibitions. It is also not “the first aircraft of this type for which the FAA has issued a special certificate of airworthiness.”

The certification “gets us closer to giving people cleaner, faster rides, saving hours for individuals and businesses each week. This is a small step for airplanes, but a giant step for automobiles,” says Jim Duchovny, CEO of Alef Aeronautics.

The all-electric Model A is a low-speed vehicle that can travel up to 200 miles on public roads and fits in a typical garage, but can also take off vertically with a range of 110 miles.

The main advantages of the model, about which Alef Aeronautics writes, are the ability to avoid traffic jams, fly in any direction, while providing a “180 ° cinematic view during a safe and pleasant flight”, stabilization of the driver due to to the “unique design of a revolving cabin on a gimbal”.

Customers can reserve a vehicle that seats two on the developer’s website. The estimated cost of a flying electric car is $300,000.

Alef first unveiled the development in October last year and said it had already received a “significant” number of pre-orders from individuals and businesses.

CEO Jim Duchovny, along with co-founders Konstantin Kisly, Pavel Markin and Oleg Petrov, were inspired to create the flying electric car in 2015 when they realized it was the same year Marty McFly was driving it in Back to the Future II.