Chinese Startup’s $140,000 Car Can Fly Over Traffic Jams

The crowd of hundreds roared in Mandarin as the gull-winged two-seater aircraft rose and hovered roughly 30 meters (100 feet) above their heads. Several of the more enthusiastic shouted, 'Make us Chinese proud'.

China's Xpeng Aeroht has staged two maiden public flights for its aircraft. The 90-second exercise near the Palm Jumeirah island in October was followed by another in Guangzhou, China.

Brian Gu, Xpeng's president, said on the sidelines of the GITEX event that it was the right time to invest in the flying car. There has been a lot of technical breakthrough by the industry.

It's too early for that type of chutzpah. others buy into it One of the biggest trade conferences in the world, GITEX, featured Aeroht as a star exhibit. The prime minister of the U.A. visited the booth. People lined up to take selfies with its prototype at its stand.

Rival startup have grappled with reality for years. The companies with multimillion-dollar listings are now trading at historic lows. Larry Page had a cat.

According to a study published this month, most investors expect companies to close and industry consolidation to continue.

The founder of Nio Capital said investors want to find the company that makes the flying car. It could take a long time for the market to bloom. It is a difficult industry to invest in.

Aeroht stands out due to the prototype flown in Guangzhou. Many e VTOLs have no wheels and can't be driven on the ground, but the Chinese company's sixth- generation model is an actual car that also works on the road. It looks like a car rather than a plane, which is a contender's approach.

The model is only flown when there are traffic jams or obstacles because it is designed to be driven on the road for more than ninety percent of the time. The car may go into mass production in 2025, according to the founder.

The price tag is a fraction of Joby's car. Aeroht has access to Xpeng's extensive chain of suppliers in China.

Entrepreneurs dreamed of democratizing the skies a long time ago. In other words, soaring over what Musk calls "soul- destroying" traffic.

The field got more crowded as investors wanted to bring a vision only in comic books and sci-fi to reality. The analysts at Morgan Stanley think the field could be worth $1 trillion by the year 2040.

The Chinese firms joined the race in the past half-decade, drawing inspiration from American names. They nurtured a generation of entrepreneurs and investors trying to replicate the success China had with EV, employing many of the same advantages: an extensive supply chain, vast pool of skilled labor and official support.

Many are counting on the efforts of the President to replace American technology with Chinese technology in fields such as climate technology.

According to Warren Zhou, an investor with Decent Capital and backer of TCab Tech, there are a few examples where American companies told them which sector is promising and can make money, and their Chinese counterparts just went and grabbed the market with lower prices. He mentioned drones and robot vacuums. It will be the same with flying cars and e VTOL.

The backers of Aeroht include some of the biggest names in startup investing. They joined a funding round of more than half a billion dollars in 2020.

After struggling for about a decade to keep his startup from going under, He met Zhao in 2020. He claimed to have won theentrepreneur over with a demo. Fly first or talk first? The man said he asked the man. First thing, fly!

He and Xpeng invested in a startup called Xpeng Aeroht, which they re-christened. The unicorn has grown from a dozen employees in 2020 to over 700 as of July.

It is one of a number of well-backed startups, including AutoFlight, which received $100 million from a European investor last November. Early this year, Volant Aerotech received more than 14 million dollars.

The technology is still in its infancy. Much depends on the development of batteries with higher energy densities. Lighter and more capable batteries are important as flying cars need more oomph and are more sensitive to load. Domestic suppliers make the batteries Aeroht uses in prototypes.

Entrepreneurs and investors say the technology is not their main concern.

New York-listed Ehang targets businesses and has started to make money. Pre-orders for 160 of Ehang's aerial vehicles came from Malaysia and Indonesia. In the month of August, Prosperity won 260 orders from two companies. Volkswagen AG in China unveiled its first e VTOL passenger drone prototype in July, and the UK's VerticalAerospace has racked up more than 1,400 pre-orders for its aircraft.

It will take more than a few hundred orders to make a difference. The biggest regulatory hurdles remain in consumer products.

No country has considered opening up its low- altitude airspace to the public. There are a few provinces in China that have recently been designated to explore the concept. Aeroht is working with regulatory bodies in the country to find a trial location.

Policy support and the government's resolution for electrification reform will determine which country gets an edge.

Philip and Jasper assisted.