[ramesh31]

The VTOL concept for air taxis is silly; this is just a 3d rendering for a press release, and battery energy density just isn't there yet for them to be useful.

But electric flight is without a doubt going to revolutionize commuter airlines. With an electric powertrain, you get rid of the vast majority of costs associated with flying which are the intensive maintenance and overhaul schedules required for turboprop/turbofan engines. You can then economically fly small traditional aircraft with electric powertrains carrying ~10 passengers up to 250 miles at 200mph with current battery tech, and takeoff/land from tiny municipal airports with no need for TSA. At that point flying becomes like hopping on a bus, and just as cheap. Living within 250 miles of a metro area and commuting every day will be a nonissue. Something like the Eviation Alice [0] is far more likely to be the future than any of these VTOL concepts.

[0] https://www.eviation.co/

[hef19898]

The predecessor had its First Flight in 2019:

https://www.airbus.com/innovation/zero-emission/urban-air-mo...

[me_me_me]

electric flight might be an empty promise.

The weight of the tanks never drops, so you are flying always full tank plane, the energy density of batteries is much lower -> heavier tanks

And you'd better hope there is no battery fire. Those are vicious.