The ePlane Company—an IIT Madras-incubated electric flying taxi startup—has signed a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop scalable solutions for passenger and cargo transportation using e-planes.The collaboration will focus on battery life cycle modelling, demand estimation and operational optimisation, a senior ePlane official said.

The urban mobility startup is developing one of India’s first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or air taxis.

It will leverage TCS’s advanced analytics, IoT and AI-driven solutions to build the software ecosystem for air taxis, said Vishnu Ramakrishnan, founders office, ePlane.

“We’re sitting on a lot of data from the battery packs that we’ve put together ourselves. TCS has experience building models that forecast battery life cycle, which is critical because today, forecasting is fairly theoretical,” Ramakrishnan told ET. “We’re leveraging their expertise to accelerate how we model the life cycle of our battery packs.”

The tech giant will also help predict demand estimation based on metrics such as socioeconomic variables, traffic density, travel times, and corridors with heavy traffic, he said. “It supports how we set up vertiports and landing points. TCS’s work on route optimisation will help us here.”

The Chennai-based startup is targeting May 2025 for its prototype trials and expects to do sandbox trials by late 2026 with air ambulance use cases. “You’ll actually start seeing flights this year, although commercial operations will likely start in 2026. Investors are showing increasing interest, and 2025 will be a big year for us,” Ramakrishnan said.

ePlane and TCS will aim to create an IP for the evolving market for air taxis in the long-term. “TCS has expertise in areas like maintenance, repair, overhaul, and customer experience platforms from aerospace and electric vehicles. At our end, we will provide real-world data from hundreds of hours of flight testing to validate and refine their models,” he said.

The two will also explore offering solutions to global customers leveraging TCS’ network in the future. “TCS has a strong presence in the European and Middle Eastern markets. They will utilise our capabilities in areas like eVTOL, cargo, surveys, or surveillance, where our smaller vehicles and past expertise are a perfect fit,” Ramakrishnan said.

ePlane will help solve related challenges in assembling battery packs and more, he said.

“This partnership embodies our commitment to driving innovation in emerging industries like electric aviation and reflects our vision of leveraging technology for a sustainable future,” TCS chief technology officer Harrick Vin said in a statement.

The ePlane Company—an IIT Madras-incubated electric flying taxi startup—has signed a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop scalable solutions for passenger and cargo transportation using e-planes.The collaboration will focus on battery life cycle modelling, demand estimation and operational optimisation, a senior ePlane official said.

The urban mobility startup is developing one of India’s first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or air taxis.

It will leverage TCS’s advanced analytics, IoT and AI-driven solutions to build the software ecosystem for air taxis, said Vishnu Ramakrishnan, founders office, ePlane.

“We’re sitting on a lot of data from the battery packs that we’ve put together ourselves. TCS has experience building models that forecast battery life cycle, which is critical because today, forecasting is fairly theoretical,” Ramakrishnan told ET. “We’re leveraging their expertise to accelerate how we model the life cycle of our battery packs.”

The tech giant will also help predict demand estimation based on metrics such as socioeconomic variables, traffic density, travel times, and corridors with heavy traffic, he said. “It supports how we set up vertiports and landing points. TCS’s work on route optimisation will help us here.”

The Chennai-based startup is targeting May 2025 for its prototype trials and expects to do sandbox trials by late 2026 with air ambulance use cases. “You’ll actually start seeing flights this year, although commercial operations will likely start in 2026. Investors are showing increasing interest, and 2025 will be a big year for us,” Ramakrishnan said.

ePlane and TCS will aim to create an IP for the evolving market for air taxis in the long-term. “TCS has expertise in areas like maintenance, repair, overhaul, and customer experience platforms from aerospace and electric vehicles. At our end, we will provide real-world data from hundreds of hours of flight testing to validate and refine their models,” he said.

The two will also explore offering solutions to global customers leveraging TCS’ network in the future. “TCS has a strong presence in the European and Middle Eastern markets. They will utilise our capabilities in areas like eVTOL, cargo, surveys, or surveillance, where our smaller vehicles and past expertise are a perfect fit,” Ramakrishnan said.

ePlane will help solve related challenges in assembling battery packs and more, he said.

“This partnership embodies our commitment to driving innovation in emerging industries like electric aviation and reflects our vision of leveraging technology for a sustainable future,” TCS chief technology officer Harrick Vin said in a statement.