• 18 Mar 2025 09:00 AM
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Press Release: Vertical Flight Society Electric VTOL Directory Hits 1,100 Designs

Vertical Flight Society Electric VTOL Directory Hits 1,100 Designs

VFS Marks 12 Years of Supporting the Electric Aircraft Revolution

Fairfax, Virginia, USA, March 18, 2025 — The Vertical Flight Society (VFS), the world’s leading non-profit organization working to advance vertical flight, announces today that the number of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft concepts being tracked in its World eVTOL Aircraft Directory has now exceeded 1,100 concepts from more than 450 designers. The directory is part of the VFS Electric VTOL News website, www.eVTOL.news, the world’s first and most extensive online resource on eVTOL aircraft and technology. 

Electric propulsion enables new aircraft concepts with enhanced performance, low or no emissions, reduced operating costs and low noise that will expand the market for vertical flight to missions not optimally served by helicopters. 

After publishing articles beginning in 2012 on the groundbreaking developments in electric vertical flight and initial meetings in 2013, VFS held the world’s first eVTOL conference in 2014, the Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Joint Workshop on Enabling New Flight Concepts through Novel Propulsion and Energy Architectures, which has continued as an annual symposium to this day. 

VFS launched the world’s first e-newsletter, The Electric VTOL News, in 2016 when the number of known eVTOL programs under development was about a half dozen. This number quickly grew after the announcement of Uber’s Elevate initiative at the Society’s third annual eVTOL Workshop in September 2016 and the first Uber Elevate Summit in April 2017.

“The World eVTOL Aircraft Directory has served the AAM community for many years as a ready catalogue of designs, everything from the silly to the serious,” said VFS Director of Strategy Mike Hirschberg. “We're very pleased that the leaders of the industry continue their progress towards fielding their revolutionary eVTOL aircraft.”

When the eVTOL.news website was launched in April 2017, only 18 known eVTOL designs were included. All of the companies or concepts listed then are still engaged today: Airbus Helicopters, Airbus A3, Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell, Carter Aviation Technologies (now Jaunt Air Mobility), DeLorean Aerospace, Detroit Aircraft (now ASX), EHang, e-volo (now Volocopter), Jetpack Aviation (Mayman Aerospace), Joby, Kitty Hawk (now part of Wisk), Lilium, Cartivator (now SkyDrive), Uber (now part of Joby), XTI Aviation (now XTI Aerospace), Zee Aero (now Wisk) and Workhorse (now part of Moog).

Over the ensuing years, designs were added to the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory at a rapid pace, reaching 100 catalogued concepts by July 2018, 200 by September 2019, 400 by January 2021, 600 by January 2022 and 800 by April 2023; the 1,000th entry was added in March 2024. Since then, the number of concepts has continued to increase around the globe — particularly in China — though the Society is no longer attempting to cover every single concept. The 1,100th design, BlueSky Aviation Technology Company’s LAN concept, would use six tilt-propellers and six lift-only propellers for a lift+lift/cruise configuration; the company is based in Jian, Shandong, China.

The Directory includes not only current aircraft under development, but also historical designs, with many defunct designs preserved for the record. For instance, Volocopter is currently working on three products — VoloCity, VoloRegion and VoloDrone — but 15 different designs have been explored, including the single-seat VC007 from 2014.

Concepts are included from not only established aerospace companies and startups, but also by individuals, universities and government agencies. The free website site also hosts more than 1,000 eVTOL news posts, including nearly 450 in-depth articles from the Society’s Vertiflite magazine, the leading periodical on eVTOL and rotorcraft developments, as well as links to video recordings from conferences and short courses, and other resources.

Also included in the Society's remit are technologies that are not uniquely applicable to vertical flight aircraft, including battery-electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion systems. Aircraft that use electric propulsion — including eVTOL and electric short- or conventional- takeoff and landing (eSTOL and eCTOL) aircraft — are broadly referred to as electric aircraft or advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft. 

In support of the broader electric aviation revolution, VFS has been sponsoring the annual Electric Aircraft Symposium (EAS) — originally started in 2007 by the CAFE Foundation — since 2018. This year’s 19th Annual EAS will once again be held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on July 19–20, the weekend prior to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture 2025, the world’s largest airshow and fly-in.

EAS is the world’s longest-running electric aviation technology meeting. More than 200 attendees are expected again this year. It’s organized by VFS with industry and government leaders who are part of the AAM ecosystem to provide updates to the community and the public. The focus of EAS is on technological advancements and addressing major issues like certification and infrastructure for the industry as a whole. Details on the invited speakers, registration and sponsorships are posted on the VFS website at www.vtol.org/eas.

VFS was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943 by the visionaries of the early helicopter industry, who believed that technological cooperation and collaboration were essential to support this new type of aircraft. Today, history is repeating itself, with VFS playing a similar role helping to advance today’s revolutionary electric aircraft.

VFS holds the largest and longest-running vertical flight technical conference in the world. The Society's 81st Annual Forum & Technology Display is being held on May 20–22, 2025, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and includes dozens of presentations on eVTOL developments, as well as the annual Short Course on Electric VTOL Technology. Learn more about Forum 81 at www.vtol.org/forum. 

VFS is @VTOLsociety on social media: Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube.