Buying an "aerial taxi" on Taobao is not a dream anymore?
On March 18th, the Taobao store Yihang Intelligent Enterprise Store launched the Yihang EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft, priced at 2.39 million yuan.
Time Finance found that it could still be added to the shopping cart and entered the payment page earlier that day, but later it could not be added due to "insufficient inventory". The sales page shows that the product is a pre-sale product, which will be shipped within 30 days. As of publication, the number of sold items is 0.
The above online store is a newly opened store with over 10000 followers as of the time of publication. According to its business license information, the company name is Guangzhou Yihang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., and the legal representative of the company is Hu Huazhi.
EH216-S is an unmanned manned aerial vehicle (eVTOL) independently developed by EH. O, and the company previously announced a Chinese market price of 2.39 million yuan. The official guide price for global markets outside of China is 410000 US dollars, effective from April 1, 2024.
It is worth noting that Yihang Intelligence recently released its 2023 financial report, with a net loss of 302.3 million yuan during the reporting period. The delivery volume in 2023 doubled compared to 2022, and total revenue increased by 165% year-on-year.
In 2023, Yihang Intelligence has gained a lot. After obtaining the world's first unmanned manned electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft model certificate (TC), its delivery volume and new order growth have both accelerated.
Total revenue and delivery volume both doubled
According to the financial report of Yihang Intelligence, the company's total revenue in 2023 increased by 165% year-on-year to 117.4 million yuan, with a net loss of 302.3 million yuan, a year-on-year contraction of 8.2%; 52 EH216 series autonomous aircraft were delivered throughout the year, compared to 21 in 2022.
On October 13, 2023, Yihang Intelligence independently developed the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft system, which obtained the Type Certificate (TC) issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
This is the world's first model certificate for unmanned and manned eVTOL aircraft, indicating that the company has officially embarked on the path of commercial application of unmanned and manned aircraft.
The Type Certificate of Conformity (TC) is a prerequisite for commercial operation of aircraft and an industry access certificate for aircraft. Generally speaking, obtaining TC is the most difficult among the three airworthiness certificates. After obtaining TC, the certification speed of production license (PC) and single aircraft airworthiness certificate (AC) will be greatly accelerated.
At the end of 2023, Yihang Intelligence has been awarded a single aircraft airworthiness certificate (AC), which means that it only has one production license left to obtain.
After being awarded the TC, the speed of intelligent delivery and new order growth by Yihang has significantly accelerated. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Yihang Intelligence delivered a total of 23 EH216 series aircraft, exceeding the full year delivery volume of 2022 and reaching the highest quarterly delivery volume in three years. Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of that year, its revenue increased by more than twice year-on-year to 56.6 million yuan, achieving a positive operating cash flow.
In terms of new orders, there have been consecutive good reports. Since the fourth quarter of last year, Yihang Intelligence has successively won hundreds of large-scale pre orders from domestic and foreign customers such as Guangzhou, Hefei, Wuxi, and the United Arab Emirates in China.
According to the financial report of Yihang Intelligence, this product has high profitability, with a gross profit margin of 64.1% in 2023.
Taking the latest intention purchase order for 100 EH216-S aircraft under the Wuxi Municipal Government in March this year as an example, if the price of 2.39 million yuan is not discounted and all are converted into confirmed orders, Yihang Intelligence will be able to earn a gross profit of 153 million yuan.
However, Yihang Intelligence has been in a loss making state since 2017, and after achieving a significant breakthrough in 2023, Yihang Intelligence still recorded a net loss of 302.3 million yuan.
But the phone conference after the financial report disclosure revealed a signal that Yihang Intelligence will soon make a profit. Yihang Intelligence stated in a conference call that it is discussing expanding credit measures with several commercial banks, "Although our current cash situation and expected operating cash flow are sufficient to meet our cash needs for profitability in the near future."
During the conference call, Yihang also pointed out that in addition to orders from Hefei, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Wuxi, similar demand is also increasing in provinces and cities such as Shanxi, Henan, Hainan, Wuhan, and Zhuhai, and many other orders are coming soon.
The application scenario is king
From the perspective of the global eVTOL situation, manufacturers with different backgrounds have entered the electric manned aircraft market, and multiple manufacturers have different technological routes, possessing the ability to conduct trial operations in vastly different scenarios.
Liu Libo, Executive Director of the South China Region of the Low Altitude Economic Committee of the China Transportation Association, previously pointed out during a communication with Time Finance, "Don't simply compare the technical difficulties of each company. This is equivalent to comparing SUVs and sports cars in cars. Sports cars have fast speeds, but their off-road performance cannot match SUVs, and the two are not comparable... eVTOL products should be compared within the application scenario. In the same application scenario, which product and scenario are combined better will have higher benefits."
Fengfei Airlines' Shengshilong 5-seater manned eVTOL aircraft is designed for multi-point connections within mega cities and public low altitude travel between urban areas, such as intercity routes (Shenzhen Zhuhai). However, the aircraft has not yet obtained a Type Certificate of Conformity (TC).
On March 18th, a person related to Fengfei Airlines told Time Finance that "Shengshilong is expected to obtain a model qualification certificate in 2026. Products as large as Shengshilong (ton level and above) and used as transportation vehicles in the future have high safety requirements. Products of the same level worldwide have not yet been certified, and everyone's planned schedule is basically from 2026 to 2028.".
In January 2024, Xiaopeng Huitian, a subsidiary of Xiaopeng Motors, announced that its Traveler X2 Flying Car had obtained a charter flight certificate issued by the Central and Southern Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China and had not yet entered the stage of obtaining the three airworthiness certificates.
It is worth noting that among the landing scenarios that have been announced by Yihang Intelligence, most of them have achieved substantial results in cultural and tourism scenarios. For example, since December 2023, Yihang Intelligence has launched the Urban Air Traffic (UAM) Operation Demonstration Center in Bao'an District, Shenzhen. At that time, Shenzhen Boling Holdings Group Co., Ltd. purchased five EH216-S aircraft to promote air sightseeing services. Bao'an Transportation Group stated that it will work with Yihang Intelligence to open several commercial tourism and sightseeing routes.
On March 18th, Liu Libo pointed out to Time Finance that manned aircraft products themselves need to obtain the three airworthiness certificates, and operating enterprises need to obtain the operation certificate in order to operate commercially. "Just like you have a car manufacturing certificate, you don't necessarily have a taxi driver's operation certificate.".
This also means that although Yihang Intelligence has already delivered its products, customers are still unable to directly put the products into commercial operation without obtaining a production license. However, Liu Libo also pointed out that the current delivery of Yihang Intelligence means that general aviation enterprises (operating enterprises) can move towards commercial operations.
He explained that currently, the aircraft tourism and sightseeing projects provided by general aviation enterprises are generally manned, which is different from unmanned aerial vehicles in terms of operation philosophy, service philosophy, route planning, and airspace evaluation. Currently, general aviation enterprises need to fully learn and cooperate with manufacturing enterprises in order to achieve win-win results.
"In this sense, Yihang Intelligence is equivalent to a driving school. After selling airplanes to operating enterprises, it helps them 'train students' and obtain the operational qualifications of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. This step is also crucial. With operational qualifications, aviation enterprises can fully start operating and earning rewards." Liu Libo said.
Equally noteworthy is that Yihang Intelligence's sense of touch has extended globally. From the perspective of customer composition, in the past few years, Yihang Intelligence has successively received 50 EH216 pre-sale orders from Japan, 60 autonomous pilot aircraft pre-sale orders from Malaysia, and 100 EH216 pre-sale orders from Prestige Aviation, an Indonesian airline.
At a conference call on March 15th, Yihang Intelligence pointed out that since 2023, the company has promoted EH216-S in many places such as Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and has also held drone formation performances in Japan and Spain.
Last November, Yihang Intelligence announced the completion and opening of its first urban air traffic (UAM) center in Europe in Spain. This is the first unmanned electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft UAM center in Europe, providing a model for the integration of global eVTOL aircraft operations with airport infrastructure, air traffic management systems, operational processes, and other information technologies.