Reporter of Every Journal: Tang Jun Editor of Every Journal: Liu Yanmei "I hope that the eVTOL host company representing our country will win the first airworthiness certificate for 5-6 seats for manned transportation." Guo Liang, CEO and chief scientist of Wofei Changkong, said

reporter: Tang Jun editor: Liu Yanmei

"I hope to represent our country's evtol host company and win the first airworthiness certificate for 5-6 seats for manned transportation." Guo Fei Changkong CEO and chief scientist Liang said at the 2024 China (Chengdu) International Low Altitude Economic Partnership Conference.

The so-called evtol is an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which is often referred to as a "flying car". evtol has the advantages of 's low carbon and environmental protection, high automation level, low operating cost, high safety and reliability. is regarded as an important solution for future urban transportation and logistics and has huge market potential .

Guo Liang said in an interview with a reporter from "Daily Economic News" that Wofei Changkong AE200 model strives to complete the airworthiness certification process by the end of next year or early next year, and is ready to start commercial trial operation after 2026, which is expected to be in 2030 Achieve large-scale operation after the year.

Picture source: Photo by reporter Tang Jun

ae200 Commercial operation prospects are promising

evtol is called a flying car because it is closely related to new energy vehicles. Guo Liang described it as actually a "flying car" New energy vehicles wrapped in aircraft clothing." He mentioned that from the perspective of the supply chain, 80% of evtol components overlap with new energy vehicles, and the other 20% are related to aviation, including power systems, flight control systems, etc., which is a typical integrated innovation industry.

evtol’s technical routes can be divided into manned driving and unmanned driving. In the field of unmanned driving, Chinese companies are already at the forefront of the world. He Tianxing, vice president of EHang Intelligence, recently said that the world's first unmanned manned aircraft operation certificate is expected to be issued within this year, and an "air taxi" service is expected to be launched before the end of the year.

Compared with EHang’s unmanned eh216-s, Wofei Changkong’s manned AE200 model is faster, can carry more people, and has a longer range. The eh216-s can carry two passengers, with a maximum range of 35 kilometers and a maximum speed of 130km/h; the ae200 is a 5 to 6-seater flying car with a maximum range of 200 kilometers and a cruising speed of about 248km/h. .

ae200 became the first manned EVTOL in the country to receive the Civil Aviation Administration of China's airworthiness certification acceptance approval in 2022, and completed the first flight of the airworthiness technology verification aircraft in December 2023.

From a global perspective, there are only three companies with manned EVTOLs capable of completing full-tilt flight. Except for Wofei Changkong, the other two companies are both located in the United States. In June this year, Wofei Changkong AE200 completed the full tilt transition flight test, becoming the first EVTOL company in China and the second in the world to complete such test subjects. "We are competing very fiercely on this track. The core is to see who among these three companies gets the airworthiness certificate for a 5-6-seater manned EVTOL first." Guo Liang said.

Guo Liang revealed that the aircraft will also be tested by Civil Aviation Administration test pilots next year and strive to complete the airworthiness certification process by the end of next year or early next year. It will prepare to start commercial trial operations after 2026 and is expected to achieve large-scale operation after 2030. .

Air traffic rules need to be gradually explored and resolved

In Guo Liang’s view, the entire evtol industry has three outstanding features: First, the big technical trend is vertical takeoff and landing, which does not require too many runways and other infrastructure, which can save more cities Space is also more convenient to use in rural areas; secondly, combined with the background of my country's new energy industry, our energy network far exceeds that of Western developed countries, and a complete charging network is conducive to the development of electric aircraft; thirdly, intelligent driving, regardless of whether the aircraft is carrying people Whether it is manned or not, it is all based on a complete intelligent driving system and conducts safe flights in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.

He believes that the early application of evtol may be business travel, with the focus being on improving travel comfort and saving travel time; after 2 to 3 years of industry maturity, the cost will be greatly reduced and it will enter the price range acceptable to ordinary people. 2-3 times the price of a ground car.

However, he also mentioned that there are areas that need to be improved in actual operations in the future, such as traffic rules. There are traffic lights to guide cars on the ground, but not in the air. These problems need to be gradually explored and solved.

In fact, low-altitude airspace management is one of the key issues that everyone is paying attention to at the moment. At this conference, Cheng Chengqi, a member of the National Air Traffic Control Expert Advisory Committee and director of the Peking University Aerospace Information Engineering Center, specifically introduced the concept of an aerial traffic light system. According to the idea, the earth's space is divided into three-dimensional grids of different scales. The areas where flight is prohibited are marked in red, and the areas where flying is allowed are marked in green. These areas change in real time according to the actual situation to guide the flight of the aircraft.

At present, the market is more aware of the prospects of evtol. Guo Liang revealed that before the product has completed the airworthiness certification, Wofei Changkong has already received a lot of orders. Its partners include CITIC Sea Direct, Sino Airlines, China Civil Aviation Flight University, Gansu Public Aviation Brigade, etc., and will jointly explore the application of evtol in multiple scenarios such as low-altitude travel, air tourism, and emergency rescue.

Daily Economic News