An innovative aircraft

Tyler Falk has a SmartPlanet article about new flying thingies:

By all accounts, our future skies are going to be clogged with Amazon's drones, planes, (flying cars?), and more drones. But here's one innovative new aircraft that I wouldn't mind seeing more of in the sky.
The Volocopter is an aircraft, developed by e-volo in Germany, that, like a helicopter, takes off and lands vertically, but it's propelled by eighteen electric rotors, making it emissions free.
And now this innovative aircraft is getting closer to becoming a commercial reality. Last month, the company's two-person VC200 model made its maiden flight. And earlier this month e-volo kicked off a highly-successful crowdfunding campaign, raising a half-million euros in just 2 hours and 35 minutes (a European crowdfunding record). It has since reached its funding limit of just over a million euros.
"The raised money will now serve to optimize the first prototype of the VC200 and, as part of the testing scheme, conclude a comprehensive test flight program for this new aviation category," e-volo said in a press release about the campaign. "After that, we will build a weight-optimized prototype of the VC200 in near-series-production conditions and finalize type-certification and mold construction for series production."
The one thing holding back the electric aircraft is the very thing that makes it stand out: batteries. E-volo says that the maximum flight time for the VC200 is twenty minutes. In the near future, the company expects to be able to fly the aircraft for an hour on only electricity. But, if battery technology does not improve as e-volo hopes, it's prepared by also developing the aircraft as a hybrid electrical aircraft to extend its range.
Still, while the aircraft faces battery challenges, there are some advantages over traditional helicopters. Notably, it's quieter and extremely light with a carbon exterior, plus operating the aircraft "is child’s play", meaning training pilots will take less time and money.
Have a look at the aircraft in flight:

Rico says what do we call this thing, anyway? An e-copter?