Ah, the flying car. It seems ever since I started in this business a decade ago, there has been a plethora of new start-ups promising an automobile that can also soar the skies. And they’ve all promised us that their product would be ready in two years’ time, yet, here we are at the verge of 2025 and, nope. I still don’t see any cars in the sky yet.
The closest we’ve gotten to – mostly due to legislation, financing and the darn dangerous nature of the idea – are vertical take-off and landing vehicles (VTOLs). But those have more in common with a personal aircraft than an actual car. So, you can imagine my skepticism when I found out that China’s well-founded XPeng’s AeroHT division has arrived with yet another promise of taking our four-wheeled contraptions into the clouds.
Except, this time around, the idea could actually work. Because XPeng’s creation isn’t exactly a flying car per se, but rather a van that acts as a launching pad for a tiny little VTOL.
Essentially A Van That Carries A Small Aircraft
I must say, contrary to all previous flying car contraptions that looked a little weird because, well, they tried to blend a car and a plane into a single unit, this “Land Aircraft Carrier” makes a heck of a lot of sense. The main vehicle is essentially a six-wheeled electric van that appears like something straight out of the Blade Runner universe. The van itself – which will definitely be a hit with the outdoorsy type of consumers who embrace the #vanlife lifestyle, carries in its large cargo area a tiny, one-passenger electric VTOL (or eVTOL) called the Air Module.
XPeng, a company already well-known in China for its electric vehicles (EVs) and its early experience with VTOLs, hasn’t yet released any technical specifications for this thing, nor how much it’ll cost, let alone how people will operate it.
But on its website, XPeng AreoHT has an entire dedicated section explaining how to control the Air Module using a single joystick, as well as a thorough explanation about its autonomous flying features. To help democratize personal flying, XPeng AeroHT says it has already collaborated with over 70 flying camps across China to ease flying training. The company plans on expanding this network to more than 200 camps by the end of this year.
A Factory Capable Of Building 10,000 Flying Cars Per Year
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this flying car project, is how serious and committed XPeng is at making it fly (excuse the pun). The company says it has commenced building a flying car manufacturing base in Guangzhou, China. The facility spans an initial footprint of approximately 180,000 square meters (1.94 million square feet) and incorporates a composites shop, a joint shop, a painting shop, an assembly shop, and other supporting infrastructure, XPeng AeroHT says.
Although XPeng hasn’t given a date as to when production will begin, it forecasts an initial annual production capacity of 10,000 flying cars. The company plans on launching its Land Aircraft Carrier on November 12th at the China Airshow, with pre-sales scheduled by the end of the year. Could this finally be the first official flying car? We’ll see how this all turns out for XPeng.
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