Xiaopeng Huitian, which just received a $150 million B1 round financing, has made another big move recently.
On September 3rd, the advanced tasting event for the "Land Carrier" flying car under Xiaopeng Huitian was officially held. At the event, Zhao Deli, the founder and president of Xiaopeng Huitian, shared how his dream of flying grew from its inception to growth.
Zhao Deli, who comes from a grassroots background, has a legendary personal experience. He has worked as a worker, security guard, and real estate agent. Due to his obsession with flying, Zhao Deli founded Huitian Technology in Dongguan in 2013 and began developing low altitude manned aircraft.
In 2020, He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, personally entered the market and made a crucial investment in Huitian Technology, marking the beginning of the company's development on the right track.
At the event, Zhao Deli sighed and said that after ten years of being pregnant, the new species nurtured by Xiaopeng Huitian is finally about to be born, and this new species is the "land carrier" flying car.
Let's talk first, or fly first
Looking back at Xiaopeng Motors' investment experience in Huitian Technology, Zhao Deli vividly described the scene of his first meeting with He Xiaopeng. Before deep communication, He Xiaopeng decided to personally experience products that were only flying motorcycles at that time.
It was this unique experience that officially gave birth to Xiaopeng Huitian. Zhao Deli admitted that he learned a lot from following He Xiaopeng, including how to define products, how to raise funds, how to understand user needs, control costs, manage organizations, and so on.
After a series of sedimentation, the development direction of Xiaopeng Huitian has gradually become clear. At present, Xiaopeng Huitian has developed a total of 5 flying car products, including two prototypes, Voyager T1, Voyager X1, Voyager X2, as well as the integrated flying car and split flying car "Land Carrier" currently under development.
It is reported that Xiaopeng Huitian's "land carrier" adopts a split design, dividing the flying car into two parts: the land vehicle and the flying vehicle, which can be automatically separated and combined. The land vehicle can fully store the flying vehicle in the car and conduct ground travel.
The 'Land Carrier' is the first step for Xiaopeng Huitian
As an ecological enterprise under Xiaopeng Motors, Xiaopeng Huitian comes with its own traffic and every move is closely monitored by the market. In early August, Xiaopeng Huitian launched a B2 round of financing and stated that the financing will mainly be used for the research and development, mass production, and commercialization of flying cars.
According to previous plans, the flying car "Land Carrier" produced by Xiaopeng Huitian is scheduled to start pre-sales in the fourth quarter of this year.
At the advanced tasting event, Zhao Deli revealed that Xiaopeng Motors' factory in Huangpu will officially start at the end of September, with a production capacity of 10000 units. Xiaopeng Huitian is currently fully committed to promoting the delivery of the "land aircraft carrier", and the company's long-term vision is to become a globally leading creator of low altitude products.
At present, many companies are making efforts in the field of low altitude flight, and many drones have begun to be used in aerial photography, surveying, inspection, pesticide spraying, etc. However, Xiaopeng Huitian will mainly focus on manned flight, and we hope to become a global leader in this field
Zhao Deli stated that the field of low altitude flight is like the new energy vehicles of the past, with various technological routes emerging.
Despite the promising prospects of low altitude flight in the industry, there are still many challenges to the landing and commercial operation of flying cars. Zhao Deli shared that the cost of flying cars is currently very high, with a single flight of one hour costing 10000 yuan. In addition, ensuring the safety of flying cars is also crucial, as it will take a long time for transportation to shift from two-dimensional to three-dimensional.
Based on this, Zhao Deli has planned the development strategy of Xiaopeng Huitian into three steps. The first step is to launch the "Land Carrier" flying car, which has a split design concept that is more suitable for current application scenarios.
Land aircraft carriers are like Transformers. After the vehicles are separated, the aircraft can take off independently. However, in daily scenarios, the aircraft can be completely hidden inside the vehicle, "Zhao Deli introduced. Xiaopeng Huitian's aircraft adopts the logic of vehicle manufacturing and uses an 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform. In order to make the aircraft safer, it is specially equipped with an intelligent flight control and navigation system and has undergone extreme testing.
In July of this year, Xiaopeng Huitian announced that the power mule cart of the "land aircraft carrier" had officially started summer standard testing, facing the comprehensive challenges of high temperature and plateau environment in the "three highs" test. It is reported that this test will be conducted in Turpan, Xinjiang and Qilian Mountains, Qinghai, to verify the stability and reliability of the vehicle under extreme conditions, laying the foundation for subsequent research and mass production.
The eVTOL track continues to heat up
Since the beginning of this year, the low altitude economy has been encouraged and supported by policies, and the core eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) track has been constantly heating up.
According to incomplete statistics, there have been a total of 21 investment and financing events in the domestic eVTOL field from 2021 to 2023. Since the beginning of this year, there have been over 10 financing events in the domestic eVTOL field. In early August, Fengfei Airlines announced that it had signed a strategic investment and cooperation agreement with CATL, with CATL exclusively investing hundreds of millions of dollars and becoming a strategic investor of Fengfei Airlines.
In addition to CATL, many power battery companies such as EVE Energy, Funeng Technology, Guoxuan High Tech, and Juwan Technology Research have also entered the research and manufacturing of eVTOL batteries.
In terms of vehicle manufacturers, Geely Automobile has invested in the development of Wofei Changkong, while Toyota Motor, as the leading investor, has invested in the American flying car startup Joby Aviation. In addition, Porsche, Hyundai, and others have also expressed their intention to enter the field of flying cars.
The core reason why the eVTOL track is so sought after by capital and related enterprises is also due to policy support.
In 2024, the "low altitude economy" was first included in the government work report and regarded as a new growth engine. Subsequently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and four other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Applications of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)", which clearly set out the specific goals and timeline for the development of eVTOL.
In addition, local policies are also being implemented intensively. On August 2nd, Shenzhen held a conference on high-quality development of low altitude economy, at which it was proposed that by the end of 2025, Shenzhen will have built more than 1000 low altitude aircraft takeoff and landing platforms and more than 1000 flight routes, achieving international advanced level of low altitude flight service guarantee.
On August 16th, the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government officially issued the "Action Plan for High Quality Development of Low altitude Economy Industry in Shanghai (2024-2027)". The plan points out that by 2027, Shanghai will build three major highlands of low altitude economy, with an industrial scale exceeding 50 billion yuan, and plans to jointly build the first batch of low altitude inter provincial navigation cities in China with the Changsanjiao City.
Multiple institutions have determined that the current low altitude economy industry is in a new phase of multiple policy catalysis. According to analysis by CITIC Securities, the low altitude economy has strong industrial radiation power and is expected to generate a trillion yuan industrial scale. The new track will improve infrastructure and operational construction on the basis of the general aviation industry, expand more advanced aircraft technology, broaden new application scenarios, and provide more development increment for related industries.
Huaxi Securities analysis shows that eVTOL, as an important carrier of low altitude economy, has multiple advantages, and the commercialization process of eVTOL is expected to continue to advance. In terms of the industrial chain, the cost of the three electricity system accounts for a relatively high proportion. Driven by the vast market size of eVTOL, the three electricity system market upstream of the industrial chain is expected to flourish. In addition, higher requirements will be placed on related components such as the three electric system in the field of electric aviation. Currently, relevant manufacturers have made preliminary layouts in the fields of batteries, motors, and electronic control in electric aviation, which are expected to benefit from the development of industry demand and gain a first mover advantage in the future.