INN/Chennai, @Infodeaofficial

Traffic snarls often become the reason for many of us to worry. This is one of the points one can never ignore if they are residing in a metropolis, for the density of vehicular movement determines how quickly one can reach any locality.

The days of worrying over traffic snarls could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to electric flying taxis which are known as E-Taxi. E-Plane, a startup company from IIT Madras has designed E-Taxi.

Just board the taxi and it would be fly you to your destination, as one is in the air, the traffic on the ground will likely not be a hassle. Professor Satyachakravarthy is the head of the project involving the design of the flying taxi.

‘The taxi will have two variants – cargo and intra-city commute,’ said Professor Satyachakravarthy. The cargo variant will be for military and inter-industry uses, and the intra-city commute is for moving passengers within a city, he said.

The travelling cost may be twice as much as the existing road-based vehicles like ola, Uber, and others, but it helps you reach your destination earlier and reduces the traffic time, he said.

This plane is powered by lithium-ion batteries, will have vertical takeoff and landing, and will be operated by a pilot. Once fully charged, it can run up to 200 km. This flying taxi can be parked in 25 square metres of space.

This 200 kg E-VTOL electric flying taxi has four duct fans mounted in the propeller. It is 10 times faster than a road-based vehicle like a taxi and has a 160 kph cruise speed and a top speed of 200 kph. It can carry two people, including a pilot, and 200 kg of luggage.

The prototype of this e-taxi is said to be launched by the end of this year or early in 2024, and it will take nearly two years to finish the permission and certification processes.