On March 21st, Interface News learned from Yihang Intelligence that on March 20th, Yihang completed a total of 12 transactions of EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft with a deposit of 39900 yuan in the "Air Taxi" special session in the "Make Friends" Taobao live broadcast room, with a full payment of 1 aircraft. The buyer is from Guangdong.
This aerial taxi was priced at 1.99 million yuan in the live broadcast room, setting a precedent for the first transaction of unmanned manned aircraft since the birth of e-commerce platforms.
He Tianxing, Vice President of Yihang Intelligence, told Interface News that EH216-S used to negotiate and purchase deals with partners offline. Last night, it was sold in a live broadcast room and received multiple intended orders, which is a major progress in promoting the low altitude economy to the C-end.
On March 18th, Yihang EH216-S was listed on Taobao for 2.39 million yuan. On March 21st, the interface news query found that the Taobao store is still in a state of zero sales.
He Tianxing told Interface News that choosing to settle in Taobao Industrial Products and launching unmanned manned aircraft is also a process of user education and popularization.
Airworthiness certification is a prerequisite for the commercial operation of eVTOL. In October 2023, EH216-S was awarded a model qualification certificate by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. On December 21 of the same year, it was awarded a standard airworthiness certificate and delivered to the first batch of customers. The plan is to first carry out commercial operations in low altitude tourism, urban tourism and other scenarios.
After obtaining airworthiness certification, Yihang Intelligence experienced an explosion in quarterly delivery volume. In the fourth quarter of 2023, it delivered 23 EH216 series eVTOLs, the highest quarterly delivery volume in three years, driving revenue to 56.6 million yuan (approximately 8 million US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 260.9%.
Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman, and CEO of Yihang Intelligence, stated at a recent fiscal year performance conference that the PC audit of EH216's production license has also come to an end, and a series of commercial operation preparations are currently underway, including operator training and the development of operating systems. This year, the commercial operation of air taxis can be achieved.
Another model VT-30 launched by Yihang Intelligence on Taobao is planned to undergo airworthiness certification within this year. According to the plan, the EH216 and VT-30 models basically cover all application scenarios for low altitude economic travel in China.
However, since obtaining the certificate, Yihang Intelligence has mainly targeted G-end customers. Since the fourth quarter of 2023, Yihang Intelligence has reached strategic cooperation with multiple local governments, such as Bao'an District in Shenzhen, Luohu District, Huangpu District in Guangzhou, Hefei City, Wuxi City, etc., as well as the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. It has received hundreds of pre orders for EH216-S aircraft and is also building and deploying eVTOL operation points in multiple locations.
Compared to the G-end and B-end, the low altitude economy's C-end market is still difficult to open in the short term. The selling price of 2.39 million yuan is destined to reach a small number of high net worth individuals as the target audience for flying cars; In addition, this is far different from buying a luxury car priced at 2 million yuan - the latter only requires one parking space in terms of accessories, while a flying car requires an apron.
Liu Libo, Secretary General of the South China Region of the Low Altitude and Transportation Economic Committee of the China Transportation Association, analyzed to Interface News that the low altitude economy C-end market is actually a real economic form of aviation sales business atmosphere, requiring cooperation from multiple aspects such as unmanned intelligent equipment, education and training demonstrations, airport ecological presentation, and comprehensive empowerment of application scenarios. It also requires detailed and complete after-sales channels, guarantee channels, training channels, flight services, and operations as support. Currently, the form of live broadcast room sales plays a more promotional role.
Although the Civil Aviation Administration of China has issued a TC certificate for EH216-S, this does not mean that EH216-S can now be put into urban air traffic operations. At present, Yihang Intelligence has only completed its commercial debut display in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hefei and other places, and has not officially started operation.
Unlike traditional transportation, eVTOL needs to be combined with scenarios, and the commercial value generated by its application is different from the traditional operational approach of "selling seats" in general aviation business. It needs to be closely integrated with industries such as medical transportation, cultural tourism, research and education, and catering.
Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Guangzhou have successively promoted eVTOL demonstration flights. On February 27th, Fengfei Aviation's eVTOL aircraft "Shengshilong" simulated the first demonstration flight of a cross city and cross bay route from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Home Port to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port Terminal. Its operator, Eastern Navigation, is expected to charge 200-300 yuan per person after large-scale operation; On March 8, Xiaopeng Hui Tianlvhang X2 driverless flying car took off from Heli Tiande Square in Guangzhou, flew along the the Pearl River, and flew over the Guangzhou CBD for the first time.
Previously, Xie Jia, Senior Vice President of Fengfei Aviation Technology, pointed out in an interview with Interface News that it will be carried out in the order of "carrying cargo first and then carrying passengers". The airworthiness of cargo planes will be "quickly obtained", and commercial routes for carrying cargo will be launched first. The airworthiness of carrying passengers is also advancing synchronously, and it is expected to be obtained by 2026.
However, before large-scale commercial landing, a series of steps such as improving infrastructure and strengthening airspace coordination management need to be taken. Wang Peng, Deputy Researcher of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that low altitude economic and commercial operations still face many challenges: the lack of airspace collaborative management mechanisms. Currently, China's airspace management involves multiple departments, and the collaborative management mechanism is not perfect, resulting in cumbersome airspace use approval and strict flight control, which hinder the development of low altitude economy; In addition, the low altitude consumer service market has a relatively low proportion compared to other fields, and market cultivation and development still need time.
According to a research report by Bank of China Securities, Yihang Intelligence is currently the only certified enterprise. Yihang's EH216 series products in the Asian region have over 450 orders in hand (as of October 2023), with a price of about RMB 2 million. If the delivery cycle of orders in hand lasts for several years, the short-term eVTOL market size will be around RMB hundreds of millions. At the same time, with the addition of cultural and tourism operating markets, it is expected that the eVTOL related market driven by EH216-S may reach the level of 1 billion yuan.