Bharat Mobility Global Expo: Shunya electric plane, flex fuel, solar car unveiled

At the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 in New Delhi, a host of innovative vehicles were launched. Among the biggest attractions is Shunya, the first mini-electric plane designed in India to be used as an air taxi.

Shunya is an aircraft belonging to the E-VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) category, which enables it to take off without a runway and could be operated even from atop a building.

The plane was unveiled by Sarla Aviation, a Bengaluru-based firm. The company claimed that Shunya was the first air taxi to be built in India. In addition to the pilot, six persons can travel on the aircraft.

There are seven electric motors on the plane, which has a four-battery pack. Shunya has a range of 160 km on a single charge, but it is ideal for flying on 20-30 km trips. The charging time is 20 minutes and the aircraft can attain a speed of 250 kmph.

The company officials said that they are planning to start air taxi services in Bengaluru by 2028. Shunya would be able to cover the distance from Bengaluru airport to Electronic City in 20 minutes, compared to 2.5 hours by road, they said. The service would match that of premium taxis, the officials added. The company has been named in honour of India’s first woman pilot, Sarla Thakral.

Creta Flex Fuel
Another path-breaking vehicle has been introduced by Hyundai. The ‘Creta Flex Fuel’ version runs on the biofuel ethanol as well as petrol. It can operate on a mixture of ethanol and petrol, 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent ethanol. Hyundai has not yet announced the date of its market launch.

‘Eva’ solar car
Vayve Mobility, a Pune-based firm, introduced ‘Eva’, an electric car that can also operate with solar power. Pre-booking of the vehicle started at the Expo.

Eva will run as any other electric car and is also available with a solar panel which could be fixed on its roof. Company authorities said that the solar panel will provide enough charge to run an additional distance of 3,000 km a year. The car can run for 10-12 km on solar power alone when the battery is completely exhausted, they said.

Two persons can travel on the rear seat of the car, in addition to the driver on the single front seat. The range on a single charge is 250 km and the maximum speed of the car is 70 kmph. The price of the car, which can achieve a speed of 40 kmph in five seconds, starts at Rs 3.25 lakh.

The company claims that a person travelling 30 km a day would be spending a mere Rs 84,437 with Eva in seven years, compared to Rs 4.34 lakh for a petrol car.

Hyperone electric pedal bike
‘Hyperone’ is the first Indian electric bike with a pedal similar to that on a bicycle. Introduced by the Motovolt company, the pedal has been built to facilitate manual control of power, a feature of non-electric vehicles. The pedal is attached to a five-KW motor and the bike can achieve a speed of 40 km within seconds after operating the pedal. Hyperone has a maximum speed of 110 kmph and its range is 105 km.