eVTOL air taxi completes its first inter-city flight in China
- The vehicle can carry up to five people
- It has a max speed of 200 kilometers per hour
- On a single charge, it can cover 250 kilometers
Published on Mar 01, 2024 at 1:44 PM (UTC+4)
by Nalin Rawat
Last updated on Mar 01, 2024 at 6:21 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
The 5-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft known as the “air taxi” has completed its first inter-city demonstration flight in South China.
Designed by the company, AutoFlight, the eVTOL completed a monumental milestone in its journey as the world’s first inter-city electric air taxi.
The flight took place from Shekou Cruise Home Port in Shenzhen and landed at Jiuzhou Port in neighboring Zhuhai.
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The distance between the two places isn’t that much, but if you go by road, it can take up to two to three hours.
The ‘Prosperity’ eVTOL air taxi will provide a much faster option for inter-city travelers.
The aircraft will shorten the two-to-three hour trip to just 20 minutes.
The eVTOL air taxi can carry up to five people and has a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.
It can also operate for up to 250 kilometers on a single charge.
According to the company, it’s the only aircraft in the world with that flight range.
However, the aircraft is not expected to start taking regular passenger flights until 2026.
With cities being packed with cars and traffic, more and more manufacturers are seeing the logic behind flying cars.
Even major automobile companies like Volkswagen are working on an electric flying car called ‘Flying Tiger’.
Other Chinese manufacturers are also making significant progress in the development of flying cars as an alternative means of travel.
For instance, Chinese manufacturer, XPeng, has earned a solid reputation in the world of eVTOLs.
Recently, the company has also been in the headlines due to the XPeng X2 eVTOL and the new XPeng Aeroht, one of the first-ever flying cars.
Although Back to the Future predicted flying cars to become commonplace by 2015, we have missed that deadline.
However, there are still many amazing flying car concepts hitting the skies later this year.
So, if we are lucky, we might get to ride in one of them within our lifetime.
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Nalin started his career by working with various national newspapers in India. He has also worked as a writer/editor for many popular websites, while still pursuing his journalism and mass communication degree. Working as a digital nomad has allowed him to inform and educate through his work. When he is not writing, you can find him playing video games or travelling the mountains on his bike.
