No, it’s not a car with a huge Thule carrier. It’s a flying car.
Patent image for Chinese automaker Expeng’s Divided by flying car Carnage doesn’t want to.
Inside that huge case, which seems to have footprints about the same size as the car, are the rotors.
Previous patent documentation reveals the rotor-folding process, Xpeng realizes the real challenge of creating such an item is creating a way to properly lock the rotors while driving on the road to prevent damage to the car.
The car itself features four wheels and two doors, and looks more like a real car than any other flying car concept or prototype before it.
It has a long wheelbase and stubby overhangs at the front and rear, as well as minimal details – tear off the rotor pack and it could go as a regular electric vehicle in 2022.
Xpeng said last year that it would launch its first mass-produced flying car in 2024, and that it was being built by its branch HT Aero, formerly known as Xpeng Heitech.
Flying vehicles are also referred to as vertical take-off and landing aircraft or VTOL (or EVTOL when battery operated).
In September 2021, Xpeng released its two-seater Voyager X2, which looks quite different from these patented images.
In its release, the company said that the Voyager X2 can fly for 35 minutes on a battery charge and reach 1000m altitude and travel at speeds of 130km / h.
Folding rotors 4.97 m long and 4.78 m wide, or 4.79 m long and 1.95 m wide, the Voyager X2 has a complete carbon-fiber structure.
Xpeng claims that the concept weighs only 560kg, with a payload of 200kg, and executives said last year that a production flying car would cost 800,000 to 1.5 million yuan (A $ 167,000 to $ 313,000).
The Voyager X2 was the latest in a series of Xpeng’s flying vehicle concepts, some resembling larger drones than cars.
HT Aero raised US $ 500 million (A $ 693 million) in its latest round of funding towards the end of 2021.
It is not the only company investing in flying cars, Chinese giant Gili has acquired American flying car startup Terafuzia.
Both Xpeng and Geely will face Headwind as the series progresses, mainly around the law – or lack thereof – flying cars.
Investment firm Morgan Stanley said last year that eVTOLs could finally represent a global US 9 trillion (A $ 12.49 trillion) market by 2050, but revised estimates from $ 1.5 trillion to $ 1 trillion (A $ 2 trillion to $ 1.38 trillion) by 2040.
These flying vehicles include definitions that are used for both cargo and human transportation.
It says it has revised its estimates to “allow for a greater margin of security” in light of our understanding of the certification landscape in the United States and Europe.
There has been some movement in Europe about flying cars.
In Slovakia, the flying, petrol-powered Klein Vision Aircar has received airworthiness certification from the Slovak Transport Authority in accordance with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards.
The agency said it completed its first manned test flight between the two Slovak cities last year and flew more than 70 hours of test flights, 200 takeoffs and landings and a steep 45-degree turn.
EASA says it is developing new rules and revising existing rules to deal with VTOLs, including operator licensing requirements for vehicles.
More: Brand Overview: Xpeng