Mere weeks after signing an agreement with Utah Aerospace and Defense to bring Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to the state, eVTOL and eCTOL developer BETA Technologies demonstrated the capabilities of its aircraft through a series of successful flights over the course of three days.

BETA Technologies is a fully integrated electric aircraft and systems developer based in Vermont. It’s been three years since the young company debuted its first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the ALIA–250.

That BETA vessel has since been renamed the ALIA VTOL and completed a piloted test flight transitioning mid-air about a year ago. We also got a closer look at its five-passenger interior this past October.

In addition to the ALIA VTOL, BETA has also been developing an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) plane called the ALIA CTOL. It has flown tens of thousands of test miles en route to evaluation flights for FAA certification. As we’ve reported in the past, that aircraft is targeting full approval for commercial operations by 2025.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

BETA has completed its first bonafide production build of the eCTOL in South Burlington. Following a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the production-ready aircraft took to the skies for a test flight last November, piloted by its founder and CEO.

Most recently, BETA signed an agreement with 47G (Utah Aerospace and Defense) to establish AAM operations in the state, to work alongside the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (GOEO) to identify locations to install multimodal charging infrastructure and identify priority routes for eVTOL and eCTOL rides.

To garner excitement for its technology, BETA recently completed three days’ worth of ALIA eCTOL demonstration flights around Utah to showcase the quiet, efficient mobility potential of its aircraft.

BETA’s eCTOL technology shines above Utah

BETA Technologies shared details of its successful eCTOL flight demonstrations, including the aircraft traveling to six different Utah airports covering over 350 miles. Those visits included Salt Lake City Airport, Provo Airport, Heber City Airport, Logan-Cache Valley Airport, Ogden Airport, and Vernal Airport.

BETA shared that its all-electric flight technology is not only quieter and more sustainable but also cuts the travel distance to those airports by two-thirds compared to relative drive times. 47G and UDOT hosted the flight demonstrations alongside BETA Technologies as the former works to bring commercial operations to the state. Carlos Braceras, Executive Director of UDOT, spoke about BETA’s eCTOL technology and what it means for the future of mobility in Utah:

We move people—and the things they need—using more than just roads. These demonstrations are more than just a technology showcase — they represent a fundamental shift in how we think about mobility. Utah’s population grows and we face increasing demands on our ground transportation system, we know that advanced air mobility offers innovative new solutions to address our evolving mobility needs.

The BETA ALIA can transport up to five passengers at a time or up to 1,250 pounds of cargo. Looking ahead, BETA and its new partners in Utah will align to establish a statewide electric charging network for both aircraft and electric vehicles, create pilot training programs, and develop a model to forecast flight operations.

The agreement with BETA is part of a broader effort from 47G to integrate advanced air mobility into Utah’s transportation sector by the 2034 Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in Salt Lake City. Chris Metts, 47G Project Alta Executive Director, also spoke:

By integrating cutting-edge electric aircraft into our mobility ecosystem, we are ensuring the highest standards of safety, advancing medical response capabilities and driving technological innovation that will create lasting benefits for communities across the state. Utah is attracting investment, accelerating the development of critical infrastructure and enabling the deployment of aircraft that make our transportation system safe and truly multimodal.

The Utah Department of Transportation posted video footage of the BETA eCTOL flight demonstrations; you can view it below:

Tesla is preparing to launch a couple of new more affordable electric vehicles and the first one is expected to basically be a stripped-down Model Y, according to a new report from China.

We have been reporting on this new vehicle program from Tesla for a while now.

It came to life just over a year ago as a pivot for Tesla after CEO Elon Musk canceled two cheaper vehicles that Tesla was working on, commonly referred as “the $25,000 Tesla”. Those vehicles were codenamed NV91 and NV92, and they were based on the new vehicle platform that Tesla is now reserving for the Cybercab.

Instead, Musk saw that Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y production lines were starting to be underutilized as Tesla faced demand issues. Therefore, Tesla canceled the vehicles program based on the new platform and decided to build new vehicles on Model 3/Y platform using the same production lines.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

We previously reported that these electric vehicles will likely look very similar to Model 3 and Model Y.

Now, this is being confirmed by a new report coming from 36Kr, a Chinese tech media, about a new Model Y-based vehicle that Tesla is planning to produce at Gigafactory Shanghai. The vehicle is being described as a “lower-priced Model Y” (translated from Chinese):

People familiar with the matter told 36Kr that the new model is a “lower-priced Model Y”. Compared with the current Model Y, the new car’s battery, power and chassis have basically not changed much.

The report references the new version of the Model 3 that Tesla launched in Mexico last year. It’s a regular Model 3, but Tesla removed some features, like the second-row screen, ambient lighting strip, and it uses fabric interior material rather than Tesla’s usual vegan leather.

Starting at the equivalent of $35,000 USD in Mexico, it is about $4,000 cheaper than a regular Model 3.

The report references a “depop”, or more likely “decontent” approach, to the new Model Y-based vehicle:

“It is developed through depop.” People familiar with the matter revealed that depop is a development idea within Tesla, which is to achieve the rapid launch of products by simplifying the configuration while keeping the main functions unchanged.

It sounds similar to what Tesla did with the Model 3 in Mexico.

The 36Kr report has some credibility since its source references the change in codenames, which now use “letters and numbers,” previously reported by Electrek.

According to the report, Tesla is expected to launch the new vehicle in China in the second half of the year, depending on the popularity of the refreshed Model Y in China:

The launch time of these new models will depend on the order performance of the renewed Model Y. If the new Model Y does not perform as expected, Tesla is expected to launch this “cheaper Model Y” in the second half of this year.

The vehicle is also expected to launch in other markets since, as previously reported, Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y production lines in the US and Germany are also currently being underutilized.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla investors shouldn’t hope for a silver bullet in those new models as they will likely greatly cannibalize Tesla’s existing Model 3/Y sales.

It explains why Tesla is waiting to launch them until it takes advantage of the demand bump from the refreshed Model Y.

I know I’ve been hammering on this for a while, but it was another critical management error from Elon Musk, who thought that Tesla didn’t need a $25,000 model based on the next-gen platform because “self-driving is just around the corner.”

That said, he is correcting a bit for his mistake by finding a way to fully utilize Tesla’s production lines, which have been operating below capacity for a while now.

But I would expect Tesla’s gross margins to tighten even more than they already have over the last two years.