Recently, a group of photos of Xiaopeng Huitian's flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" have been widely circulated on social media platforms. A person close to Xiaopeng Huitian confirmed to the Shanghai Securities News reporter that the photos in the group are true, and the chassis test mule car of the "land aircraft carrier" in the photos. The land aircraft carrier consists of two parts: a land-based body and a flying body. The land-based body can fully store the flying body inside the vehicle for ground movement, and can automatically separate and combine like Transformers.
At the "Technology Spring Festival Gala" International Consumer Electronics Exhibition (CES) in January 2024, Wang Tan, co-founder and vice president of Xiaopeng Huitian, announced that the split type flying car will start booking in the fourth quarter of 2024 and plans to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025. If successfully implemented, it means that the "land aircraft carrier" will become the world's first mass-produced and delivered split type flying car for individual users.
New photo exposure of "Land Aircraft Carrier"
According to photos exposed on social media, the overall design of the "Land Carrier" is quite avant-garde, with a sci-fi feel reminiscent of Tesla Cybertruck.
Xiaopeng Huitian previously disclosed that the "mother ship" of the "land aircraft carrier" carries an intelligent cockpit with 4 to 5 people, which is an extended range electric drive power system that can continuously replenish energy for the aircraft. The "mother ship" has a 6 × 6 drive, which can achieve rear wheel steering and has better load-bearing and off-road performance.
The second half of the land aircraft carrier is a manned aircraft that can achieve vertical takeoff and landing, and has two automatic driving modes: manual and automatic.
Huitian was founded in 2013 and began exploring manned aircraft at the beginning of its entrepreneurship. In 2020, He Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng Automobile jointly invested and controlled Huitian, and Xiaopeng Huitian was officially established. Xiaopeng Huitian is committed to "giving wings to cars" and creating true dual-purpose flying cars for land and air, providing products and solutions for human urban three-dimensional transportation.
At CES, Xiaopeng Huitian's land air integrated flying car was exhibited for the first time. It is reported that in land mode, flight systems such as the arms and rotors can be fully folded and stored inside the vehicle; Through the folding deformation system, the boom can be opened to switch to flight mode, achieving vertical takeoff and landing in an environment where conditions permit, flying over congestion, obstacles, rivers, etc., to meet people's needs for short distance low altitude travel. In addition, the land air integrated flying car also adopts forward-looking "black technology" such as a foldable steering wheel, transparent instrument panel, and transparent cockpit chassis. The intelligent cockpit can freely switch between land mode and flight mode.
Xiaopeng Huitian stated that the practical application of integrated flying cars needs to match the software and hardware construction of future cities and the construction of application scenarios. Therefore, Xiaopeng Huitian will arrange for mass production of this product in the next step. The company first needs to mass produce a split type flying car, known as a "land aircraft carrier". Wang Tan stated that the "Land Carrier" split type flying car will start booking in the fourth quarter of this year and is planned to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of next year.
Low altitude economy accelerating takeoff
In recent times, under the joint efforts of policies and markets, the low altitude economic industry has ushered in a critical period of opportunity.
A senior executive of a domestic eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft) company told Shanghai Securities News that the domestic eVTOL industry is expected to make significant progress in product research and manufacturing in 2024. At present, several eVTOL companies have successively achieved the first flight of prototype aircraft, and will conduct large-scale and long-range test flights in the future. With the collective efforts of the industrial chain, the maturity of eVTOL products is expected to continue to improve.
When eVTOL can truly enter the market and "fly into ordinary people's homes" has attracted market attention. The industry predicts that 2024 is expected to become the first year of commercialization in the eVTOL industry. The aforementioned executives believe that eVTOL companies will explore commercial operations in certain specific scenarios, such as air tourism, and gradually expand into emergency rescue, high-dimensional freight, etc. in the future. From the perspective of development mode, the large-scale deployment of eVTOL should first be "to G/to B", and then "to C.". It may take about five years for an individual to become a consumer of eVTOL.
In terms of A-shares, several listed companies have recently disclosed the latest developments in the aviation automotive industry. On February 5th, Wanfeng Aowei announced that its subsidiary Wanfeng Aircraft signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its partners on the establishment of a joint venture company. Through strategic cooperation, the two sides plan to jointly establish a joint venture company and will carry out in-depth cooperation in the field of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
On January 30th, Wanan Technology announced that its controlling subsidiary Anhui Wanan had received a "Designated Development Notice" from a well-known domestic flying car company. Anhui Wanan was selected by a customer as the supplier of front subframe assembly products for a certain vehicle model, requiring Anhui Wanan to coordinate with its technical and quality departments, confirm drawings and data, and sign a contract.
On January 15th, Changyuan Donggu announced that the company has recently received a designated development notice from a well-known domestic flying car company. The customer has decided to choose the company as the supplier of the stator main housing, outer rotor housing, three-phase wiring cover plate, controller installation housing, and support bracket for a certain model of flying electric drive housing. The company is required to coordinate with its technical and quality departments, confirm drawings and data, and sign a contract. The supply time, price, and quantity of specific models of products are subject to the supply agreement or sales order signed by both parties.
