Will flying cars and low altitude economy become the next hot topic?
On February 1st, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Low Altitude Economic Industry Promotion Regulations were officially implemented.
On February 2nd, Yihang Intelligence announced that its unmanned aerial vehicles in China have an official guide price of 2.39 million yuan per set. Xiaopeng Huitian also announced at the CES exhibition in January that it will mass produce "land carrier" flying cars in the fourth quarter of 2025. From mass production to announcing prices, Flight Dream seems to be getting closer and closer.
The EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft conducted manned flight demonstration in wutong Mountain, Shenzhen.
In an interview with the media, He Tianxing, Vice President of Yihang Intelligence, stated that in 2024, Yihang Intelligence will take manned transportation as the main direction and comprehensively promote commercialization. He emphasized that "2024 will definitely be the first year of commercialization for eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft).".
Xiaopeng's mass production is imminent, and Yihang announces its selling price
The official guide price for the Yihang Intelligent EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft system in China is 2.39 million yuan per aircraft, and the relevant prices will officially come into effect on April 1, 2024. The aircraft was awarded a standard airworthiness certificate in December last year and completed its first commercial flight demonstration.
From the parameters, the EH216-S has a body length of 5.73 meters and a height of 1.93 meters. It can be fully charged within two hours, with a maximum flight speed of 130 kilometers per hour, a range of 25 minutes, and a designed range of 30 kilometers.
It is worth noting that EH216-S does not require a pilot, and the aircraft flies according to a pre-set route, which can effectively avoid safety accidents caused by human operational errors. Unmanned aerial vehicles mean that passengers do not need to have a certificate to work, greatly reducing the threshold for "flying dreams".
On January 26th, at the "Ten Measures for Low Altitude Economy" policy press conference of the Luohu District Government in Shenzhen, Fan Defan, Secretary of the Luohu District Committee, completed a manned flight demonstration experience on the EH216-S. He Tianxing, Vice President of Yihang Intelligence, stated that the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft adopts advanced multi backup design, fully ensuring flight safety. Passengers can completely free their hands, enjoy the beautiful scenery in the air, and experience more comfortable and convenient air travel.
As another participant in the aviation automotive industry, Xiaopeng Huitian brought the latest products and progress at the CES exhibition in January.
The land air integrated flying car of Xiaopeng Huitian has two modes: land travel and flight. In land-based mode, the flight systems such as the arms and rotors are folded and integrated into the body, giving it a similar appearance to traditional sports cars. When in flight mode, the folding deformation system is used to open the arms of the aircraft. When the environment permits, it can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, quickly crossing congested roads, rivers, valleys and other obstacles, and achieving the demand for short distance low altitude travel.
Xiaopeng Huitian Land Air Integrated Flying Vehicle.
However, the practical application of integrated flying cars needs to match the software and hardware construction of future cities, so Xiaopeng Huitian will not mass produce them temporarily. The first thing Xiaopeng Huitian needs to mass produce is a flying car called a "land aircraft carrier".
The land aircraft carrier consists of two parts: a land-based body and a flying body. The flying body is a pure electric manned aircraft that can achieve vertical takeoff and landing and low altitude flight. The land-based vehicle can fully store the flying body inside the vehicle for ground movement, and is equipped with an extended range hybrid power system, which can charge the flying body multiple times.
At the CES exhibition, Wang Tan, co-founder and vice president of Xiaopeng Huitian, said, "The split type flying car will start booking in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is planned to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025. If successfully achieved, it means that the" land aircraft carrier "will become the world's first split type flying car to be mass-produced and delivered to individual users."
However, before delivery, flying cars still require approval and permission from the Civil Aviation Administration.
Li Hanming, an expert at Civil Aviation Resource Network and founder of Li Data Analysis Company, told Times Finance: "Flying cars are essentially still aircraft and require airworthiness certification in accordance with civil aviation laws and regulations. Currently, Yihang has passed the certification, and Xiaopeng still needs some time."
Civil aviation expert Lin Zhijie told Time Finance that the research and production of aircraft need to obtain relevant airworthiness approvals from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and its safety needs to be verified. He also emphasized, "It's difficult to have an accurate timeline for how long this process will take."
Yihang Intelligent EH216-S Unmanned and Manned Aircraft System has obtained a model qualification certificate.
Who can get on a flying car?
It is worth noting that Xiaopeng Huitian hopes to deliver to individual users, but there are not many people qualified to drive flying cars.
According to the 2021 edition of the Annual Report on the Development of Civil Aviation Pilots in China released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, only 534 people obtained a Private Pilot License (PPL) for helicopters in 2021. Considering the price range of millions, flying cars for individual users are clearly a niche market at this stage.
In addition, some civil aviation personnel have raised doubts. "The demand for cars is sturdy, collision resistant, and characterized by high weight; the demand for aircraft is lightweight, and there is a huge difference between these two, which may be difficult to balance."
In order to promote commercialization, Xiaopeng Huitian is actively cooperating with the B-end. Xiaopeng Huitian told Time Finance, "We have signed a booking agreement with Nanhu Transportation Science and Technology Institute for 100 land aircraft carrier flying cars. They plan to use these flying cars for comprehensive management in transportation fields such as highways and waterways, as well as for the experience of flying campsites and station shuttle transportation."
In addition, Nanhu Transportation Science Institute, Ningxia Transportation Department Traffic Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau, and Xiaopeng Huitian jointly signed a pilot cooperation agreement for the pilot application of flying cars, supporting the demonstration application of flying cars in transportation, culture, tourism and other fields.
Xiaopeng Huitian Land Aircraft Carrier Flying Car.
To achieve commercialization, it is necessary to address the issue of application scenarios. Xiaopeng Huitian has presented different application scenarios from near to far to Time Finance:
In the early stages, the flight speed and distance of the product were limited, and there were not many available airspace for flight. At this stage, the main focus is on limited flight scenarios, such as fixed route flights within the city, flying over rivers and other terrain barriers, suburban flight experiences, sightseeing tourism, etc;
In the second stage, with the increase of range and speed, the airspace will be further opened, forming some fixed flight grids in the city, which can achieve short distance travel within the city, as well as commuting between cities such as CBD and suburbs, high-speed rail stations, and airports. At this stage, intercity transportation between some urban agglomerations has become a high-frequency application scenario.
Xiaopeng Huitian is very optimistic about the future of flying cars: "In the long run, with the maturity of products and air traffic management, it will achieve door-to-door and end-to-end commuting within the city, establish a complete three-dimensional transportation network, and make low altitude travel a necessity, completely changing the way humans travel."
Multiple brands competing for "low altitude economy"
With Xiaopeng Huitian proposing a production schedule for the "Land Aircraft Carrier" and Yihang Intelligent releasing a guide price for unmanned aerial vehicles, the attention to the flying car, which used to only exist in science fiction movies, has once again increased.
In terms of policies, in October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and four other departments issued the "Outline for the Development of Green Aviation Manufacturing Industry (2023-2035)", proposing that by 2025, electric general aviation aircraft will be put into commercial application and eVTOL will achieve pilot operation; By 2035, a green aviation manufacturing system with integrity, progressiveness and safety will be built, and new energy aircraft will become the mainstream of development. In December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the importance of developing low altitude economy in policy discussions.
In addition to Xiaopeng Huitian and Yihang Intelligence, at the 2023 GAC Technology Day, GAC GOVE Flying Automobile successfully made its first flight; Geely Automobile's subsidiary, Volvo Changkong, not only independently developed its first flying car AE200, but also established a joint venture with German UAM company Volocopter, Volvo Kongtai.
From a global perspective, the flying car track is full of strong players. In August 2023, Alef Aeronautics, in which Musk participated, announced that the company had received 2500 pre orders and its Model A had received special airworthiness certification from the FAA. It is expected to fly in the United States by 2025.
At this year's CES, Hyundai's air travel subsidiary Supernal unveiled a brand new eVTOL aircraft. In addition, Joby Aviation, invested by Delta Airlines, and Archer, invested by Toyota, are all making efforts to commercialize flying cars.
Although efforts are being made to commercialize flying cars, the reality is that flying cars are expensive and have a relatively limited range of applications, mainly for urban tourism. In addition, some industry opinions believe that due to battery technology limitations, the flight time of flying cars is generally less than one hour, and commercial landing needs to explore more application scenarios and technological progress.
According to a research report by Guosheng Securities, from the perspective of the development of the entire industry application scenario, the application of autonomous driving eVTOL products has reached a turning point from 0 to 1. Meanwhile, China's complete industrial chain provides a relatively favorable environment for the research and development of eVTOL.
Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2030, there will be 12000 flying cars worldwide used for air taxi, airport shuttle, and intercity flight services, with a global flying car market size of $55 billion; The market size will reach 9 trillion US dollars by 2050, with a potential market size of 2.1 trillion US dollars in China.
When can flying cars enter thousands of households and become a means of transportation for commuting to and from work? Li Hanming believes that there is an urgent need to improve supporting regulations and facilities such as flight rules and support capabilities. Lin Zhijie said, "Firstly, the cost needs to be reduced to around 200000 yuan, making it affordable for the public. Secondly, a huge air corridor and corresponding air command and traffic system are needed. These are all system level projects and will be a long process."