Major milestone hit as flying car completes first public test flight
- A flying car has hit a new milestone after successfully completing a public test flight
- Aerofugia’s AE200 took the skies in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province
- The company has already applied for certification for the aircraft
Published on Jun 26, 2024 at 6:05 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Jun 26, 2024 at 3:49 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A flying car – or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) – has completed its first test flight in China.
Designed and developed by the Chinese company Aerofugia, AE200 took part in a series of flights in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province on June 23.
The tests went off with a hitch and marked the end of AE200’s second phase of flight.
READ MORE! These are the coolest flying cars taking off in 2025
The AE200 flying car hits a major new milestone
Aerofugia has said the tests have shown that AE200’s aerodynamic flight control and aeronautical power technologies had hit their intended standards, an important milestone for the flying car.
The five-seater AE200 has a cruising speed of around 248kph and a maximum range of 200km. It will operate at about 300 meters above urban areas.
The flying car has eight rotors that are positioned vertically during the craft’s ascent. Once the eVTOL hits the right altitude, four of the rotors tilt – effectively working as propellers.
When it’s time to descend, they neatly return to their vertical position. Smart, right?
“As a tilt rotor of full size and weight instead of a model, it not only achieves eVTOL but also transitions between vertical and horizontal flight,” Fei Lan, marketing director of Aerofugia said in a press release.
“With two extra fixed wings, the AE200 ensures a longer flight range while being purely powered by electricity.”
The all-electric aircraft applied for certification in April last year, which should be completed by 2025 – according to China News Service.
It’s not the only eVTOL grabbing headlines in China right now
Aerofugia’s recent test flights come hot on the heels of the Xpeng Aeroht X2 first flight in Bejing.
Dubbed ‘the world’s first flying car’ the X2 took part in a successful test flight at Beijing International Airport Economic Zone on June 16.
It marked the first time such a flight has taken off in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, an area that is hoping to target the developing ‘the low-altitude economy’ – and brings the X2 an exciting step closer to XPeng’s ultimate goal of commercializing the flying car.
Brian Gu, Vice Chairman and President of XPeng has previously said he believes we’ll be seeing flying cars taking to the skies sooner than we might think.
Gu is hopeful that the first commercial ‘cars’ will be ready by late 2025, or early 2026 at the latest. Exciting stuff.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
