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Meet LEO Coupe: an Electric Flying Hypercar that Belongs in a Sci-Fi Movie

While for many of us, the thought of seeing flying cars buzzing above our heads belongs in the far future, it's actually an idea closer to becoming a reality than we might have expected. Startup Urban EVTOL is already imagining what our daily commute will look like.
Urban EVTOL LEO Coupe air taxi 9 photos
Photo: Urban EVTOL
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In the last few years, the market for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles has boomed, and we've seen a lot of innovative concepts put to the test by dozens of companies. There are many ideas ready to take off, literally, ranging from Volocopter's multirotor air taxi to aircraft powered by giant rotors.

However, the race of building air taxis is dominated by vehicles that resemble drones or jets rather than actual cars. There are a few who go that extra mile to turn something we're familiar with using as a commuter into our personal flying car.

In the spring of 2020, Pete Bitar and Carlos Salaff founded Urban EVTOL with the goal of addressing the gap in the design of VTOL flying cars. They noticed that sci-fi ideas are now within grasp.

That's how LEO Coupe was born. It's an all-electric jet turbine-propelled eVTOL made to resemble your everyday ride, well, no, scratch that. It actually looks more like a luxurious hypercar ready to soar over the city. A bit longer than an Aston Martin Valkyrie, LEO is able to fit in almost all 2-car garages. Its size enables it to be privately owned, used as an air taxi, and as a vehicle in any place where there's not much space to work with.

The rotors are hidden within the wings, making it safe for anyone that happens to be in its vicinity. A DARPA-funded propulsion system adds to the aircraft's safety. Its gull-wing doors, a feature most petrolheads cannot miss, open up to reveal quite a roomy interior as there is enough space to fit three passengers.

In the future, the company plans to make the vehicle fully autonomous, but until that becomes a reality, you'll need a pilot for this thing because it would be able to fly at incredibly fast speeds, reaching 250 mph (402 kph).

Urban EVTOL has released a few renderings that portray the aircraft in fire rescue scenarios, medevac, Coast Guard, tourism, exploration, and more, adding that the vehicle can be used in almost any terrain without developed road infrastructure.

Currently, the company is seeking to create pilot VertiStop networks for its eVTOL. It plans to develop VertiStops on already existing urban rooftops, providing not only transportation hubs for LEO but also parking and charging stations for other EVs.
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About the author: Florina Spînu
Florina Spînu profile photo

Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature.
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