The ePlane Company has agreed to supply 788 air ambulances in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. The country is grappling with worsening traffic congestion in busy cities.

Under the non-binding agreement, it will provide the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to ICATT, an air ambulance service provider. ICATT intends to use the aircraft in every Indian district.

By creating battery-powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically, EVTOLs hope to transform urban transport and provide commuters with an opportunity to avoid traffic jams.

Businesses like Archer Aviation and Sarla Aviation are also part of India's emerging eVTOL sector.

ePlane is targeting commercial operations by the latter half of 2026, with an initial production of 100 units a year.

Satya says, “We can ramp up our production and put things into the market to good use much more effectively with an air ambulance than directly going to an air taxi. We can ramp up air ambulances a lot more organically, compared to having to go to a rush with an air taxi.”

The aircraft would have an initial range of about 110 kilometers (68.4 miles), which can later be increased to more than 200 kilometers.

ePlane, which has raised $20 million so far from investors, will look to start with three prototypes of the ambulances, accommodating a pilot, a paramedic, and a patient, along with a stretcher.

Chakravarthy, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, where his startup is incubated, said another $100 million would be required to manufacture more prototypes in other forms, achieve type certification, and begin commercial production.