Ehang, JAC Motors and Guoxian launch JV for VTOL production

Chinese air taxi company Ehang has signed a framework agreement with JAC Motors and Guoxian to establish a joint venture in Hefei to invest in the construction of a production facility for eVTOLs. Additionally, Ehang has completed Europe's first unmanned urban eVTOL flight test in Spain.

The joint venture aims to start building an eVTOL manufacturing base in Hefei, China, which is to integrate “advanced technology, standardization, and automation to produce intelligent and pilotless electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.” The partners have pledged to collaborate on research and development, as well as manufacturing and sales of “this new type of eVTOL aircraft.”

Once operational, the new joint venture aims to integrate the existing production supply chain in Hefei with aircraft manufacturing technology, promote the standardization of key aircraft components, establish unified industry standards, and cultivate a comprehensive industrial cluster. The companies wrote: “This initiative aims to foster the development of the low-altitude economy and a new multi-dimensional transportation ecosystem.”

This is not the first step for EHang in Hefei, as the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Hefei municipal government in October 2023, which led to the establishment of two Urban Air Mobility eVTOL operation centres at Luogang Central Park in Hefei. In the same year, EHang also received a flight license for its uncrewed passenger drone in commercial operations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

“As a comprehensive automotive enterprise group integrating the R&D, production, sales, and service of full series commercial and passenger vehicles, and covering a wide range of fields including automotive mobility and financial services, JAC Motors is strategically partnering with EHang and Guoxian Holdings to develop the low-altitude economy,” commented Xingchu Xiang, Chairman, and General Manager of JAC Motors, adding: “By leveraging Hefei’s high-quality resources, this collaboration aims to drive the high-quality growth of emerging industries.”

Meanwhile, in Europe, EHang also reached a major milestone with the completion of the first unmanned eVTOL flight in an urban environment in Benidorm, Spain. The test flight was undertaken with an EH216-S unmanned electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The flight test was further designed to test coordinated multi-drone operations, and alongside the EHang drone, 12 additional drones were simultaneously managed by Spain’s air navigation service provider, Enaire, following European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations.

The test flight was supported and conducted as part of the EU-funded U-Space European Common Deployment (U-ELCOME) project, a key digital airspace initiative under the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking (SESAR 3 JU), which is coordinated by Eurocontrol and involves 51 partners from France, Italy, and Spain.

VTOL business has been volatile lately, with two German startups filing for insolvency in the last month, including Volocopter and Lilium. In the UK, Joby and Virgin Atlantic just announced an eVTOL taxi partnership, which aims to launch with plans to offer regional and city air taxi connections from Heathrow and Manchester Airport, where Virgin Atlantic has a number of hubs. In the USA, the Californian air taxi developer Archer Aviation collected $300 million in investment last month.

ehang.com (joint venture), gasgoo.com (test flight in Spain)