GUANGZHOU: The crowd of hundreds roared in Mandarin as the gull-winged two-seater aircraft rose and hovered roughly 30m above their heads, before smoothly lowering back down to earth. “Make us Chinese proud in Dubai!” several of the more enthusiastic shouted in unison.
In the past months, China’s Xpeng Aeroht has staged two maiden public flights for its aircraft.
The 90-second exercise near Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah island in October was followed by another in Guangzhou – landmarks for the startup backed by electric-vehicle maker Xpeng Inc.
The EV firm’s billionaire founder He Xiaopeng and other backers are betting large they can overcome regulatory hurdles and capture a slice of what’s been touted as a US$1 trillion (RM4.4 trillion) market that could redefine how we move around.
“The flying car is approaching reality and we think it was the right time to chip in,” Brian Gu, Xpeng’s president, said on the sidelines of the Dubai event, called GITEX.
“The industry has produced a lot of technical breakthroughs, from weight reduction to obstacle avoidance and electrification.”
Some would say it’s far too early for that sort of chutzpah. Others buy into it.
Aeroht, founded in 2013 by 45-year-old high-school dropout Zhao Deli, was the star exhibitor at GITEX, one of Dubai’s biggest annual trade conferences.
The prime minister of the United Arab Emirates stopped by the booth. People lined up to snap selfies with its prototype at its stand, the busiest on the floor.
The prototype flown in Guangzhou makes it stand out.
While many eVTOLs – electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft – have no wheels and can’t be driven on the ground, the Chinese company’s sixth-generation model is an actual car that also works on the road. It looks like a luxury automobile rather than a small plane with wheels, which is some contenders’ approach.
In fact, the model is designed to be driven on the road for more than 90% of the time and only flown when there are traffic jams or obstacles.
The car – which sports four electric engines and eight propellers – may go into mass production in 2025.
The estimated price tag is one million yuan (RM616,000). — Bloomberg