China's Electric Flying Taxi Revolution Has Begun
Image Credit: EHang.
The future of getting from A to B just got a whole lot more electric. And possibly a tad terrifying, depending on your fear of heights and/or trusting anything that sounds like a giant mosquito.
Our friends over in China have gone and done it. EHang, a name that sounds suspiciously like what you might say after one too many lukewarm lagers, has actually managed to get the thumbs-up for paying passengers to hop into their EH216-S. Yes - actual, honest-to-goodness people will be strapped into these electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing contraptions – eVTOLs, for those who like acronyms that sound like a particularly nasty strain of flu – and whisked across the skies for the princely sum of… well, we'll get to that wallet-worrying detail in a moment.
The EH216-S thingamajig is electric, so no smelly exhaust fumes, no deafening roar of a piston engine. Just the gentle whir of a lot of electric motors, I presume. Enough to lift its maximum takeoff weight of a hefty 1,433 pounds skyward. That's a fair few Sunday roasts, if you ask me.
And it's pilotless. I don't know... Entrusting my delicate life to a computer program with no grumpy old bloke in a leather helmet to blame when things go pear-shaped? That takes a certain leap of faith. Or perhaps a hefty dose of whatever it is they put in those little airplane peanuts. Still, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has given it the nod. They've awarded EHang not one, not two, but a whole batch of Air Operator Certificates. The Guangdong EHang General Aviation outfit and their Hefei HeYi Aviation chums are the first in the world to get these golden tickets for civil human-carrying pilotless aerial vehicles.
From now on, if you're in downtown Guangzhou or Hefei, and feeling a bit peckish for some dim sum on the other side of town, you have a choice. Instead of battling through the rush hour traffic – which, if my limited experience of Chinese roads is anything to go by, is an Olympic sport in itself – you just whip out your phone, book a ride on one of these electric sky-pods, and moments later, you're ascending gracefully above the plebs in their earthbound metal boxes. Sounds rather civilized, doesn't it? Almost… James Bond-esque. Though hopefully with fewer exploding pens and more reliable navigation.
Image Credit: EHang.
Ehang is positively giddy about this, naturally. They're calling it the "official start of the era of unmanned flight in China's low-altitude economy." Low-altitude economy. Sounds a bit like they're selling cut-price clouds… But fair play to them, they've become the "world's first eVTOL company to receive a full set of regulatory certifications." That's probably enough paperwork to keep a squadron of bureaucrats busy for a month.
What's this airborne magic carpet ride going to set you back? Well, if you want to buy an actual vehicle, the official guidance price for the EH216-S in China is a cool RMB 2.39 million. After a bit of fiddling with my trusty abacus, that translates to roughly $330,000. Three hundred and thirty thousand American dollars. For a pilotless flying machine. Blimey. You could buy a rather nice sports car for that kind of money. Or a small island. Or, you know, a lifetime supply of those aforementioned airplane peanuts.
Of course, this price is for the vehicle itself, not just a single jaunt across town. But still, it gives you an idea of the kind of investment we're talking about here. This isn't going to be your average UberPool anytime soon. The single flight prices haven't been revealed yet, but as soon as I know something, you'll hear about it.
Image Credit: EHang.
EHang is thinking big. They reckon these sightseeing flights are going to "accelerate expansion" and bring "development opportunities to the industry chain." They've even been tinkering with solid-state batteries, managing a respectable 48 minutes and 10 seconds of uninterrupted flight in a test. That's not exactly crossing continents, but more than enough for a decent city tour, I suppose. As long as the pilot – or rather, the algorithm – knows the way back.
The dawn of the electric, pilotless flying taxi is upon us. Will it revolutionize our commutes? Will we all be zipping around like characters in some futuristic sci-fi flick? It looks like we will, at least in China. Just try not to think about the software glitches when you're a few hundred feet up.
