Anand Mahindra praises IIT-Madras for incubating India’s first flying electric taxi

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, praised the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras for incubating ‘The ePlane Company’ that is developing an electric flying taxi, describing the institution as one of the world’s most “exciting and active incubators”.

Taking to X, Anand Mahindra wrote “A company is being incubated at IIT Madras to build a flying electric taxi by sometime next year,” Mahindra posted on X.

Thanking the institution, he further said that with the rapidly growing number of ambitious incubators throughout India, “we’re no longer seen as a country that lacks genuine innovators”.

“Audacious aspirations matter. Accept no limits,” Mahindra added.

If successful, it will be one of the world’s first flying electric taxi.

The ePlane e200 aircraft will have a capacity of two passengers and a payload capacity of up to 200 kg.
Furthermore, The ePlane Company claims that the flying taxi will have a range of up to 200 km and have vertical takeoff capability, will be affordable and a footprint of 5×5 metres. Also, if a car journey to a place takes 60 minutes, it will take just 14 minutes in the e200 air taxi. The charges would be comparable to a Uber or Ola ride.

The ePlane Company also claims that its flying taxi can be easily certified using the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) guidelines for VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles.