Xpeng-backed startup aims for flying car production by 2025
Xpeng-backed startup aims for flying car production by 2025. Credit: Xpeng
Xpeng Aeroht, a Chinese startup backed by Xpeng Motors, is aiming for volume production of its electric passenger drones in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the electric vehicle maker set to work on the final assembly of what they describe as flying cars. Xpeng revealed the timeline in a regulatory filing on Tuesday as part of a framework agreement signed between one of its fully-owned subsidiaries and Aeroht, adding that Aeroht will pay RMB 71,000 ($9,940) for each aircraft when production volume is lower than 25,000. In October, Xpeng Motors chairman He Xiaopeng, who is the controlling shareholder of Aeroht, unveiled an electric flying vehicle prototype built on a modular system in which the flight and automobile components can be separated. Geely-affiliated Aerofugia also expects to secure an airworthiness certificate from Chinese regulators as early as 2025, which would facilitate the delivery of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOLs) air taxis to its shareholder Sino Jet, a Chinese business jet operator. [Xpeng filing, TechNode reporting]
