For decades, German vehicle engineering leader EDAG Group has been behind some of the wildest vehicle concepts to hit the pages of New Atlas. Now it’s jumping into the next generation of mobility by partnering with Israeli startup AIR to build the aluminum structure for its production short-hopper eVTOL. AIR has been flight-testing its craft for years and is pushing toward launch, so this time around EDAG will help realize the type of science-fiction-grade travel it’s long been devising at a conceptual level.
Much like Rinspeed, EDAG has contributed more head-scratching, jaw-dropping concept jewelry to international auto shows over the years than we’d care to quantify. A robotic six-wheeled pod-car that legit freaked us out, several sculptural skeletons, and a luxury sedan pickup car rank among some of the firm’s most memorable designs.
As for the camper segment, the prescient EDAG team’s work goes way back. Long before it explored new territory with a hydrogen-fueled adventure RV, it played with the idea of a pop-up camper based around a cherry red sports coupe. It’s called “GenX,” dating back to when X was still hanging onto its place as the cool, young topical generation, albeit in the midst of a jarring collision with the big 4-0.
We’ve seen innumerable small pop-up campers over the decades, but a solo-sleeper pop-pod carved into the center of a sports car’s curvy, flowing roof was definitely unique. As impractical as it looked for anything more than sleeping off a bender before driving home, it was a concept ahead of its time, spawned years before “van life” had even been coined a term, let alone accepted as common practice. Absolutely weird, but we wouldn’t have minded seeing a production version hit streets and campgrounds.
Of course, while we remember it best for offbeat concepts, EDAG Group is also a serious independent engineering services firm with over 50 years’ worth of expertise and 80 locations around the globe. It has decades of automotive structural development experience, and has worked with major global automakers and suppliers in bringing ideas to fruition.
AIR
It’s that last bit, not so much the decades-old pop-up camper-coupe, that motivated AIR to bring EDAG aboard on an equally forward-looking mobility concept, one with far more potential to become reality than any off-the-wall show car. The eVTOL startup announced this month that it has partnered with EDAG to build the structure of its production AIR One eVTOL. In fact, AIR says it’s already taken delivery of the initial production batch from EDAG and started further assembly with the goal of customer deliveries later this year.
“With EDAG’s expertise in vehicle development, design and production, we are taking a critical step toward bringing advanced air mobility to the masses,” AIR CEO and cofounder Rani Plaut said in the announcement. “This partnership paves the way for streamlined, scalable production of AIR One, enabling faster delivery to meet the growing demand from consumers and enterprises for accessible air transportation.”
AIR
The One is AIR’s first eVTOL platform, configurable for both private passenger flight and unmanned cargo transport. It’s powered by eight individual electric rotors wired to a multi-battery pack. Quadruple battery redundancy and double rotor redundancy (i.e. can operate using four of eight rotors) ensure safe flying.
The passenger One targets the type of short-distance air-hopping anyone who’s sat in traffic for more than five minutes has envisioned at one point or another. AIR doesn’t currently list many specifications, perhaps ahead of finalizing production numbers, but it estimated a 110-mile (177-km) range and/or hour of in-air endurance when it first announced its eVTOL ambitions four years ago. Top speed was given at 155 mph (250 km/h).
AIR
With that short range comes the promise of fast, convenient charging. AIR estimates a mere hour of charge time from 0 to 100% battery life, with 20 to 80% happening in half that time.
The One prototype measures in at 19.2 feet (5.9 m) long and 7.5 feet (2.3 m) tall to the tip of the vertical stabilizer in back, with a wingspan of 23 feet (7 m). It has a planned payload of 550 lb (250 kg), and the Cargo variant offers a load capacity of 70 cu ft (1,982 L), allowing it to carry a range of equipment across various use cases, from standard pallets to emergency stretchers.
AIR
AIR says the partnership with EDAG has resulted in an upgraded aluminum-focused structural build that now boasts folding wings for streamlined storage and transport. The two-seat cockpit also gains extra space … but no mention of a coffin-like pop-up rooftop sleeper pod.
The EDAG team-up comes on the heels of an advanced night flight demonstration AIR completed last month. It announced then that the One Cargo had become the first midsize eVTOL to conduct an uncrewed nighttime cargo operation, a critical step toward AIR’s greater plans for the logistics market.
AIR
“Operations don’t stop once the sun goes down,” Plaut said after the demo. “We recognized early on that ensuring safety and efficiency at night is just as essential as in the daytime. The aircraft adapts to almost any environment due to its simple ground handling requirements and the ease with which any ground crew can quickly get up to speed. The new SOPs we established lay the foundation for a future of uninterrupted, on-demand cargo mobility.”
Two-person private air mobility and on-demand cargo transport? Sounds like a convenient future AIR has planned. It’s already taken over 2,000 preorders for the private piloted model, and the Cargo variant is positioned to help it meet the scaled production volumes necessary for automotive-style production methodologies.
We won’t hold our breath on that late-2025 delivery timeframe, as such timelines have a way of slipping silently by when it comes to eVTOLs, but AIR does seem to be steadily checking boxes toward launch. The $150,000 One passenger edition currently lists as sold out for the first production run, but interested parties can sign up on a waiting list for the second run.
You can check out last month’s uncrewed Cargo night flight in the quick video below.
Game Changer: 1 Ton Uncrewed eVTOL Cargo Operation at Night
Source: AIR
