Japan's flying car startup SkyDrive participates in Vibrant Gujarat, eyes India
Jan 09, 2024
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], January 9 : Japan-based flying carmaker SkyDrive has participated in the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat event in Ahmedabad, showcasing its futuristic transport solutions.
SkyDrive flying car is approximately 11.5 m x 11.3 m x 3 m (37.7 ft x 37 ft x 10 ft), including the rotors.
It has a seating capacity of 3 (1 pilot and 2 passengers).
Powered by battery electric, the sky car is built with composite, aluminium alloy, etc, with approximately 1,400 kg (3,100 lbs) weight. With a maximum air speed of 100 km per hour, it can fly approximately 15 km.
"We are now trying to have a start of flying cars - eVTOL service in India...This is based on totally renewable energy... It is difficult to have an airport in urban areas but it can take off and land on the top of buildings, so we can use air taxis in our daily lives...," Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive, told ANI.
"We have a plant with Suzuki in Japan and after the market is more and more open, we want to have other plants too..."
Asked if can one expect production of such sky cars in India, he said, "Of course, we want to make the product reasonable and bring it near to the market. So, we believe in India there are so many problems...so these kinds of vehicles will be useful. In that case, we want to have a plant here in India, and have a market in India too."
SkyDrive was formally established in July 2018 after testing flying car concepts and prototypes from 2014. SkyDrive has a partnership with Japanese automaker Suzuki.
Its vision is to create a future where everyone has access to eVTOLs as their daily transportation in Japan and across the world. The company succeeded in the first crewed flight test in Japan in 2019.
