Embraer-affiliated Eve Air Mobility said on August 5, 2026 that it has completed the first partial transition flight of its engineering prototype electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, marking a decisive step towards fully wing-borne flight. The test validates the rear pusher propulsion system that will carry Eve's four-passenger air taxi from hover to cruise.
Inside the milestone
The prototype hit a stabilised 27 knots (about 50 km/h) and a maximum ground speed of 30 knots while the rear pusher propeller ran at up to 1,200 RPM. The flight lasted 3 minutes 9 seconds, covered roughly 0.84 nautical miles and topped out at 90 feet above ground level. Chief executive Johann Bordais called the test "an important step" in taking the vehicle from vertical lift to conventional aerodynamic flight, historically the hardest phase for eVTOL certification.
What comes next
Head of engineering Marcelo Basile said the team will now expand the flight envelope with additional transition tests, followed by datalink validation to support operations up to 50 knots. The programme, based in Melbourne, Florida and Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, still targets a certification push around 2027 followed by service entry with launch operators including Shearwater Global Capital and orders held by Revo in Brazil and AirX in Japan.
An intensifying eVTOL race
Rivals Joby Aviation and Archer are already ferrying test flights toward commercial takeoff, while Vertical Aerospace and Volocopter continue to iterate on certification paths in Europe. Eve's incremental transition programme keeps it in that pack of players targeting middle-of-decade service entry. The company already banked a July MOU with Hitachi Energy on eVTOL vertiport power, positioning ground infrastructure as a parallel workstream to airframe certification.
Reporting based on coverage from MRO Business Today, GlobeNewswire and eVTOL News.