An EVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that uses electrical power to fly, take off and land vertically.

An electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft is a variety of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that uses electric power to fly, take off and land vertically. This technology emerged thanks to advances in electric propulsion (motors, batteries, fuel cells, electronic controllers) and the growing need for new vehicles for urban air mobility (air taxi).

Various prototypes are being developed by aircraft manufacturing companies such as: Airbus, Boeing, EHang and Embraer, and automobile manufacturers such as: Honda, Toyota and Hyundai.[1]​.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in interest from aircraft manufacturers in EVTOLs and companies in the aeronautical sector, such as Airbus, Bell Helicopter and Boeing, have worked to develop this technology.[2]​.

In addition to these large aircraft manufacturers, start-ups such as Archer Aviation") with its "Midnight" model, Joby Aviation") with its Joby S4 (eVTOL for air taxi) and Vertical Aerospace") with its VX4, have played an important role in the development of these aerial vehicles and have been leaders in technological advances.[3]​.

The company Uber published an article about a project called Elevate, the document explained the viability of an on-demand air transportation system, this document helped advance the concepts of EVTOL aircraft, urban air mobility, the aerospace sector and development projects for new aircraft.[4]​.

Most current designs are battery powered, although some designs use hydrogen fuel cells.

Currently, batteries have little specific energy (causing autonomy problems). Fuel cells have previously suffered from lower specific power (which might be too low for vertical takeoff and landing), but newer designs claim to have solved this problem with a much higher specific power.[5]​[6][7][8]​.

There are also proposals such as using batteries for takeoff and landing, and using hydrogen fuel cells for flight at cruising speed.[9]​.