FutureFlight
Japanese Engineering Group Taiho Orders SkyDrive's SD-05 eVTOL Aircraft
The memorandum of understanding for the provisional sale was signed a week after SkyDrive started taking orders from private individuals for its two-seat eVTOL vehicle.
Taiho's president and CEO Kazuyuki Inui (left) signs a memorandum of understanding with SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa
Taiho's president and CEO Kazuyuki Inui (left) signs a memorandum of understanding with SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa covering a pre-order for the SD-05 eVTOL aircraft. (Image: SkyDrive)

Japanese engineering group Taiho this week placed a preorder for one of SkyDrive’s SD-05 two-seat eVTOL aircraft. The memorandum of understanding, reported on April 18, constitutes the second provisional sales commitment from a commercial customer to be publicly confirmed by the manufacturer, which last week said it has started accepting preorders from private individuals as well.

The first prospective private buyer for the vehicle is Kotaro Chiba, co-founder and managing partner of the venture capital group Drone Fund, who was one of SkyDrive’s first investors in November 2018. In September 2022, Vietnamese renewable energy company Pacific Group said it would buy up to 100 aircraft. SkyDrive has declined to reveal pricing for the SD-05 or confirm whether or not the preorders are backed by any sort of down payment.