( CNN ) -- There 's a lot to be said for determination . Two years ago , a contraption that looked a bit like a bouncy ball attached to a clothesline , took flight in a pioneering experiment in the German countryside . A YouTube clip of a man flying the electric `` Multicopter '' attracted over 8 million hits , with comments ranging from : `` AMAZING MACHINE ! '' to `` Not sure you could pay me enough to sit in the middle of flying blenders bolted together . '' Regardless , the three German engineers behind the baffling creation plowed ahead with their dream of making an electric helicopter . Last week it paid off . There was n't a bouncy ball in sight as the slick white `` Volocopter '' took to the air for the first time , quietly hovering 20 meters high , while its ecstatic creators cheered below . Featuring 18 propellers on a lightweight carbon frame , the futuristic copter -- which has been around €4 million ( $ 5.4 million ) in the making -- could change the way we commute forever . `` What we 're looking at now , is in the future where everyone is traveling not by car , but by some kind of aircraft , '' explained Stephan Wolf , co-chief executive of e-volo , the company behind the remarkable flying machine . `` Normal helicopters are very hard to fly . But we thought 'what if you could have a helicopter that is easy for the pilot to fly , and cheap compared to other aircraft ? ' '' Clever copter . Powered by a 100 kilogram battery , the two-passenger Volocopter can travel at least 70 kilometers per hour , recently making its first remote-controlled flight in a hanger in Karlsruhe , southwest Germany . The chopper weighs just 300 kilograms in total . One limitation is that it currently only has enough power to fly for 20 minutes -- though designers are looking at ways of increasing this , or introducing a hybrid engine . Many small rotors -- attached to a 10-meter wide circular frame -- also help the eco-friendly machine hover more easily than other helicopters . `` If you let the joystick go , the Volocopter will just hover in the current position , so there 's nothing the pilot has to do , '' said Wolf . `` But if you do that in another helicopter it will crash immediately . '' Reimagining the city . Indeed , the Volocopter 's simplicity sets it apart from other helicopters , and its creators hope in the future commuters will be able to take their electric aircraft to work , instead of languishing in gridlocked cars below . The European Union is already looking at ways personal aerial vehicles ( PAVs ) could revolutionize urban spaces . It might sound like a scene from the Jetsons , but a city where flying machines replace cars is n't as far off as it seems . `` The most helicopters in the world are in Sao Paulo , Brazil , '' explained Wolf . `` They have several thousand movements per day because the streets are congested and everyone who can afford it is taking the helicopter to go from one building to the next . `` You can imagine this happening in a big city in Germany . And already we 've been approached by several companies who 'd like to do it , maybe with landing pads on buildings . '' The team hopes to sell its first Volocopter by 2015 , with each machine setting you back €250,000 ( $ 338,000 ) . They 're now on the lookout for further funding to develop their unique design . Think big . It 's a long way from the first awkward-looking Multicopter test flight in 2011 . Even more impressive , considering Wolf himself was a computer software engineer for 25 years before turning his attention to futuristic flying machines -- `` I was dreaming of building a helicopter since I was a child , '' he said . Then there 's the other e-volo founders -- Thomas Senkal , a former physicist , and Alexander Zosel , who managed a disco for almost 10 years , who also got on board the pioneering project . `` I think everyone wants to fly , '' said Wolf . `` Helicopters are very expensive and people think maybe this is a way to be a pilot themselves . `` In 20 or 30 years from now there will be even more cities with millions more people living in them and transportation will be a big problem . Maybe you need to go up in the air to solve these problems . ''
Introducing e-volo 's Volocopter : multi-rotor electric helicopter makes maiden flight . Eco-friendly machine powered by just 300 kilograms battery , can travel two . Part of The European Union scheme looking at how personal aerial vehicles could replace cars . Expected to be available by Two years ago , would cost $ 5.4 million .