BETA’s ALIA eCTOL completes 2,000 mile trip to US Air Force base for experimental program
As part of a contracted deployment agreement with the US Air Force, eVTOL and eCTOL developer BETA Technologies has landed its ALIA aircraft at Duke Field, a subsidiary of Eglin Air Force Base, following a 2,000 mile journey across 12 states.
BETA Technologies operates as a fully-integrated electric aircraft and systems developer based in Vermont that caught our attention 2021 with the debut of its first aircraft – an eVTOL called the ALIA-250. That model has since been renamed the ALIA VTOL.
Since then, we ALIA VTOL has been joined by an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) plane called the ALIA CTOL, which has already flown over 26,000 test miles to date and has undergone evaluation flights for FAA certification and is targeting full approval for commercial operations by 2025.
The ALIA CTOL made an appearance in North Carolina last week, sitting next to the podium has BETA held a groundbreaking event at a new aircraft charging site in the birthplace of flight. Also present at the ceremony was US Air Force project AFWERX, a partner in the charging product and long-time collaborator with BETA Technologies, helping develop its eVTOL and eCTOL technology.
Last week, we reported that BETA’s ALIA eCTOL would continue onward from the Tar Heel State to the Eglin Air Force Base in the western panhandle of Florida. Today, the aircraft has successfully completed its journey and will stay put in Florida to be used for hands-on experimentation and training with professional pilots.
BETA’s eCTOL successfully lands at Air Force base
BETA shared confirmation of a successful journey to Duke Field that ended this afternoon, consisting of over 1,700 nautical miles (~2,000 miles) and more than a 12 hour-plus long series of all-electric flights.
The trip included a stop in Syracuse, navigation through Class B airspace above Boston and New York City, followed by clearance to enter the highly restricted flight restricted zone (FRZ) above Washington DC (seen in featured image above) – the first all-electric aircraft to garner such clearance. BETA says it was able to land and charge its ALIA aircraft several of its own charging stations, 14 of which are already online in the US with 60 additional sites already in development or construction.
Today’s delivery is not only a key milestone for emissions free travel, but kicks off the next step of long-standing partnership between BETA and the Department of Defense that began in 2020 through the latter’s AFWERX Agility Prime Program.
Through this partnership, BETA was able to solidify itself as first electric aircraft developer to receive an airworthiness certificate for manned flight from the military and states it remains the company to have conducted manned evaluation flights with test pilots from the Air Force and Army.
Those tests will now continue as BETA has delivered its ALIA eCTOL to the Duke Field, where it will live for several months while the 413th Squadron of the US Air Force validates vital use cases including critical resupply, cargo deliveries, and personnel transport. BETA founder and CEO Kyle Clark spoke:
For the past several years, AFWERX has provided critical input and support to the BETA programs. Deploying ALIA for experimentation and training at Duke Field is the natural next step in our partnership. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the U.S. Air Force over the next few months as we work together to assess how the economic, sustainability, and energy independence benefits of electric aviation can serve our military. In addition to the milestone of delivering an asset to our partners, this mission has been an invaluable opportunity to fly our electric aircraft down the east coast into the communities this technology, and our operators, will ultimately serve.
BETA says that in addition to the ALIA eCTOL it also delivered a mobile simulator to Duke Field to train Air Force pilots before they get behind the controls of the full-sized, piloted aircraft. As the US Air Force pushes the ALIA eCTOL to its limit in Florida, BETA says it will continue to work toward FAA certification of the aircraft as well as its ALIA eVTOL sibling. The company expects those aircraft to begin commercial services in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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