Ehang Unveils New Autonomous Air Taxi
Ehang's new, electrically powered air taxi is intended to transport passengers without a pilot on board, for example, in the greater Shanghai area.
VT35 air taxi from Ehang
(Image: Ehang)
Chinese company Ehang has unveiled an autonomous air taxi designed for longer routes in metropolitan areas such as the Yangtze River Delta. With its electric propulsion, the Ehang VT35 takes off and lands vertically (eVTOL stands for 'electric vertical take-off and landing'). It flies autonomously and can carry two passengers.
The eVTOL is 8.26 meters long, 3 meters high, and has a wingspan of 8.16 meters. The maximum take-off weight is 950 kilograms. Eight electrically powered rotors enable vertical take-off and landing. For horizontal flight, the VT35 has wings. In the air, an electric ducted fan provides propulsion. The cruising speed is said to be around 210 km/h. Fully loaded, it can travel according to Ehang 200 kilometers, with a flight time of about one hour.
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Ehang Already Offers UAM Services
The VT35 is intended for passenger transport at low altitudes in cities and for interurban corridors (Urban Air Mobility, UAM), Ehang announced. In April, the company received approval for UAM services in Guangzhou (Canton) in the southeastern province of Guangdong and in Hefei in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui. Initially, the EH216-S eVTOL aircraft will be used there. The VT35 can utilize the vertiports built for this purpose.
"The VT35, together with the EH216-S focused on urban space, will form a comprehensive intelligent air mobility network," said Huazhi Hu, founder and CEO of Ehang, at the presentation on Monday.
The VT35 is intended for use on short to medium routes in urban areas. The company cites major metropolitan areas such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, or the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as examples. It also sees further applications on island groups.
The standard version of the VT35 is expected to cost 6.5 million yuan in China, equivalent to just under 790,000 Euro.
(wpl)
