ePlane opens India's largest eVTOL testing facility

The details

• The ePlane Company opened India's largest eVTOL prototyping and testing facility at IIT Madras Discovery Campus in Thaiyur, Chennai.
• The facility spans 60,000 square feet and is dedicated to integrated prototyping and testing of eVTOL aircraft.
• Professor V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras and Padma Shri awardee, officially inaugurated the facility.
• The Discovery Campus covers 163 acres and is designed for high-technology ventures.
• This is India's first integrated site for serial production of electric aircraft, combining design, prototyping, subsystem integration, and testing.
• The facility includes composite fabrication units, electric powertrain assembly lines, avionics testing infrastructure, and a dedicated Ground Test Vehicle section.
• Tethered hover tests will be conducted at the facility as part of moving toward Type Certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
• The company received Design Organisation Approval and acceptance of its Type Certification application, making it the first private Indian company to reach this stage.

The bigger picture

• The facility signals India's capability to design, test, certify, and manufacture complex aerospace systems indigenously.
• The company collaborates with the DGCA to help define India's certification and flight-testing framework for eVTOL aircraft.
• The initiative aligns with the national vision of building advanced technologies under the 'Viksit Bharat 2047' mission.
• The company's growth is linked to IIT Madras Incubation Cell, which provides infrastructure, engineering talent, and academic validation.

About the business

• The ePlane Company develops electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for urban air mobility.
• Its flagship aircraft is the e200X, described as the world's most compact air taxi with a patented 8m x 10m footprint.
• The e200X uses Synergistic Lift technology and achieves 35 percent higher energy efficiency compared to conventional designs.
• The aircraft is suitable for rooftop-to-rooftop mobility.
• The initial commercial use case is air ambulance services, not passenger rides.
• The company aims to reduce critical medical transport times across India by up to seven times.
• It collaborates with global technology partners including NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services, Dassault Systèmes, and Ansys for simulation, cloud, avionics, and engineering.

What happens next

• Tethered hover tests will be conducted at the facility as part of moving toward Type Certification from the DGCA.
• The company plans to use the facility for serial production of electric aircraft.

Founders

• Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder and Technical Lead

More on The ePlane Company

• ePlane announces five partnerships and Apollo MoU at airshow24 July 2026 · Partnership

Everything on The ePlane Company →

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