China announced a flying electric car for $ 157,000

HT Aero (a subsidiary of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng) has unveiled a prototype of an electric vehicle capable of flying and driving on public roads. Images of the flying electric car were shown at the Xpeng Tech Day event on October 24.

The model will be equipped with rotors that fold or unfold depending on the situation. The company noted that by the time of the start of mass production, which is scheduled for 2024, the appearance of the electric car may still change.

According to TechCrunch, the novelty will stretch 5.5 m in length, and the cabin will have a conventional steering wheel for road travel and a lever for air travel. According to the head of the company, He Xiaopeng, the cost of an electric car will be less than $ 157,000 (11 million rubles).

Earlier in October, HT Aero raised over $ 500 million to build flying machines. The lead investors of the round were venture capital firms IDG Capital and 5Y capital, as well as Xpeng itself. This summer, the startup unveiled and tested its first passenger two-seater flying car, the Voyager X2. Prior to this, HT Aero only produced unmanned demonstrators.

Along with XPeng, its domestic competitor Geely, the European aircraft building concern Airbus, the South Korean corporation Hyundai, Japanese Toyota, Slovak Aeromobil, German Lilium and others are working on the creation of flying cars. Russia is also testing a prototype of a flying car, called “Cyclocar”, with the participation of the Advanced Research Fund and the Institute of Thermophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The first full-size prototype is scheduled to fly in 2022.

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