Chennai,February 26, 2026:
The ePlane Company has opened its state-of-the-art prototyping and testing facility at the IIT Madras Discovery Campus in Thaiyur. Spanning 60,000 sq. ft., the site is the nation’s first integrated plant dedicated to the serial production of electric aircraft, signaling a pivotal shift in India’s Urban Air Mobility (UAM) sector from initial design concepts & subscale prototypes to flight-ready hardware and certification-grade fullscale prototyping.
The facility was officially inaugurated by Professor V. Kamakoti, Padma Shri recipient and Director of IIT Madras. His vision for the 163-acre Discovery Campus has been instrumental in providing the high-tech infrastructure necessary for deep-tech ventures to scale.
A Strategic Hub for Industrial-Scale Aerospace
The facility will support key development milestones, including tethered hover testing, as the company progresses toward Type Certification. It houses design, prototyping, integration, and subsystem testing teams in a single location and serves as the engineering hub for the passenger, relief, and cargo eVTOLs.
The site includes composite fabrication, electric powertrain assembly, avionics testing, and a dedicated Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) facility to support subsystem validation and full-scale development.
Engineering for the Indian Context, Ready for the World
The e200X is uniquely engineered for the world’s most congested cities. While global competitors require massive landing pads, the e200X’s 8m x 10m footprint, the most compact in the world, enables seamless rooftop-to-rooftop operations.
“This facility is the engine of our commercial future,” said Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder and Technical Lead of The ePlane Company. “With the support of IIT Madras, we have built a space where we can fulfill our vision of making flying as common and affordable as taking a taxi. This isn’t just about moving people; it’s about adding another layer of transport to the future of human mobility.”
Significance to the Global Deep-Tech Ecosystem
This prototyping facility is a critical step forward for India’s deep-tech hardware ecosystem. Moving beyond design approvals, it enables the physical integration and validation of complex aerospace systems. By setting testing benchmarks with the DGCA, ePlane is actively shaping the regulatory blueprint for electric aviation in India.
This prototyping facility is the physical foundation for indigenous aerospace innovation; a dedicated space to build energy-efficient, zero-emission mobility solutions designed specifically for the world’s densest cities.
The IIT Madras Factor: A Blueprint for Innovation
The success of The ePlane Company is a direct result of the IIT Madras Incubation Cell. The institute provides a rare “full-stack” support system:
● Infrastructure: Access to the Discovery Campus, allowing startups to scale beyond the constraints of traditional urban labs.
● Human Capital: A pipeline of specialized engineering talent focused on electric propulsion and composite materials.
● Validation: Academic rigor that ensures safety and physics are validated long before an aircraft leaves the ground.
