Airspeeder teases a new modular solar-powered vertiport with 360 views of eVTOL ‘flying car’ races
Nascent eVTOL “flying car” racing league Airspeeder has announced a collaboration with renowned architecture firm HOK to introduce the “SkyDeck,” described as the world’s first modular race vertiport. This solar-powered hub will offer fans 360-degree views of the eVTOLs racing through the air, bringing a new level of immersion to motorsports.
Airspeeder is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) racing league headquartered in London, first announced in November 2021. The league operates as an entity of Alauda Aeronautics – an electric aviation company based in Adelaide, Australia, where the league’s headquarters and testing grounds are located. Alauda also designs, engineers, and builds the league’s dedicated eVTOL racing aircraft called “Airspeeders.”
Since its initial launch, we’ve seen Alauda and Airspeeder assemble teams of racers that competed in development races on the way to an entire global competition called the EXA Series. In the fall of 2022, we got our first glimpse of the excitement an eVTOL racing league could bring to motorsport enthusiasts when Airspeeder showcased its first-ever EXA racing event.
At the time, Airspeeder pilots like Zephatali Walsh, who ended up winning the inaugural EXA Series Championship in December 2023, competed remotely from the ground. The goal of Airspeeder and the EXA Series has always been to deliver crewed “flying car” races, which should happen using Mk4 eVTOLs, which were unveiled in early February.
To add even more technology to a unique and exciting new motorsport, Airspeeder has recently collaborated with HOK to design a new modular vertiport, which will allow future spectators to visit and experience aerial action up close with 360-degree views. You can see more in the video below.
Airspeeder looks to revolutionize flying car races for fans
Airspeeder shared details of its new innovative design collaboration called “SkyDeck,” which is a modular flying car race vertiport and event space developed with HOK’s Sports + Entertainment team based in London.
HOK brought experience in developing and building unique design projects like LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B in New York City, Mercedes-Benz Stadium where the Atlanta Falcons play, and the Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
Together, HOK and Airspeeder shared they have been able to imagine a new creative space for EXA Series spectators that also addresses the unique challenges of flying car races. Per John Rhodes, director of Sports + Entertainment at HOK:
It is incredibly exciting to design a brand new sports typology. Airspeeder challenged us to draw on our decades of expertise designing for F1 and other sporting events while also imagining a physical environment for the future.
The result of these efforts its the SkyDeck, a new fully-modular eVTOL vertiport that is 100% solar-powered as part of Airspeeder’s “leave no trace” philosophy of sustainability in motorsports. The initial design seen above offers space for up to 10 teams and 20 Airspeeders. However, its modularity allows room for continuous expansion to the structure in order to meet the evolving needs of the young aerial sport as it grows.
This new hub design is unique in that it sits directly beneath the airborne racetrack. The vertical nature of this setup offers a spectators an immersive 360-degree experience, where they can observe the race grid and finish line from one spot.
HOK has also helped design an “airside” zone within the SkyDeck, where teams have protected workspaces that fans can see and watch behind the scenes action. These zones also include retractable landing pads for mid-race pit stops to change batteries. Stephen Sidlo, Airspeeder’s global media & marketing director, also spoke:
We believe that flying car racing will initiate a new mobility revolution, advancing eVTOL and EV technology to benefit the entire industry. This collaboration with HOK represents not just a new sport but the future of high-speed, sustainable mobility.
As if flying car races weren’t unique enough to the world of motorsport, Airspeeder and HOK believe the SkyDeck, which will be erected in the desert of Australia, is first-of-its-kind approach for fans that will combine cutting-edge design with interactive digital experiences.
Airspeeder looks to continue its EXA flying car race series with 10 crewed teams in 2025. You can see more of the design plans for the SkyDeck in Airspeeder’s video below:
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on “Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021.
Handout | Via Reuters
Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.
The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.
In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”
In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.
Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.
Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.
PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.
While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.
WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street
The global EV market is still charging ahead. According to new numbers from global research firm Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2025, up 28% compared to the same period last year. But not every region is accelerating at the same pace.
China and Europe are doing the heavy lifting
More than half of the world’s EVs this year have been bought in China. That market hit 5.5 million sales in the first six months of 2025 – a 32% jump year-over-year. Around half of new cars bought in China are now electric.
While some Chinese cities’ subsidies have dried up, Rho Motion expects momentum to pick back up later in the year as more funding is released.
In Europe, 2 million EVs were sold in the first half of the year, up 26%. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales also rose 26%, thanks in part to affordable models like the Renault 4 (pictured) and 5 entering the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) weren’t far behind, growing 27% year-to-date. Chinese automakers are leaning into PHEVs as a way to work around the EU’s new tariffs on BEVs.
Spain is leading the pack with EV sales soaring 85% so far this year. Its generous MOVES III incentive program was extended in April and has kept sales strong. The UK and Germany are also seeing solid growth – 32% and 40%, respectively. France, however, is slumping. With subsidies cut, EV sales there have dropped 13%.
North America is stuck in the slow lane
Things aren’t looking quite as bright in North America. EV sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico are up just 3% so far this year.
Mexico is the one bright spot, with a 20% boost. The US is up 6%. But Canada is down a whopping 23%.
And things could get bumpier. On July 4, Trump signed Congress’s big bill into law, which axes all the Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits. Those consumer credits for EVs now officially end on September 30.
Just over half of the EVs sold in the US this year qualified for those credits. Rho Motion predicts a rush in Q3 before the subsidies disappear – and a decline in sales after that.
Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said, “With Trump’s latest cuts in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the US could struggle to see any growth in the EV market overall in 2025.”
Global EV sales snapshot, H1 2025 vs H1 2024
- Global: 9.1 million (+28%)
- China: 5.5 million (+32%)
- Europe: 2.0 million (+26%)
- North America: 0.9 million (+3%)
- Rest of world: 0.7 million (+40%)
Read more: China breaks records as global EV sales hit 7.2 million in 2025
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Lucid’s electric sedan can drive further, charge faster, and packs more advanced tech than most of the competition. That might explain why it’s leading the segment. The Lucid Air remained the best-selling luxury EV sedan in the US after widening its lead in the Q2.
The Lucid Air is America’s best-selling luxury EV sedan
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure arrived as the “World’s most efficient car” with an EPA-estimated range of 420 miles and a record 146 MPGe.
It just set a new Guinness World Record last week for the longest journey by an electric car after travelling 749 miles (1,205 km) on a single charge.
That record was set in the range-topping Lucid Air Grand Touring model, which is rated for up to 512 miles of EPA-estimated range. On the WLTP scale, it’s rated at 597 miles (960 km). Either way, it still crushed the estimates.
According to second-quarter sales data, released by Kelley Blue Book on Monday, the Lucid Air is still America’s best-selling luxury EV.
Lucid sold 2,630 Air models in Q2, up 10% from the previous year. Through the first half of 2025, Lucid Air sales are up 17% with 5,094 units sold.
Tesla, on the other hand, only sold 1,435 Model Ss during the quarter, 71% fewer than it did in Q2 2024. Tesla Model S sales in the US are down 70% through the first half of the year at 2,715.
Although Porsche Taycan sales were up 32% with 1,064 models sold, the significantly upgraded 2025 model year was expected to see even more demand. Porsche has 2,083 Taycans in the US this year, up just 1% from 2024.
Other luxury EV sedans, such as the BMW i5 (1,434), i7 (820), and the Mercedes EQS (498), experienced steep double-digit sales declines year-over-year.
And it’s not just electric luxury sedans. The Lucid Air is currently outselling many gas-powered vehicles in its segment.
Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity, is also rolling out. Although only five were sold in the second quarter, Lucid is quickly scaling production. Lucid aims to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the roughly 9,000 it built in 2024.
Earlier today, Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, confirmed during an interview with Bloomberg that the company expects higher Gravity output in the second half of the year.
The interview was at the grand opening of Panasonic’s new battery cell plant in De Soto, Kansas. Winterhoff said Lucid will start using new cells from the facility, but not until next year.
Lucid’s CEO stressed the importance of establishing a local supply chain, as policy changes under the Trump Administration are taking effect. Lucid and Panasonic are collaborating to localize EV materials, such as graphite. Last month, Lucid secured a multi-year supply agreement with Graphite One for US-sourced Graphite.
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