China’s EHang Launches Longer-Range VT35 eVTOL Aircraft

EHang has launched the VT35 autonomous eVTOL, showing video of the two-seater at an event in the Chinese city of Hefei on Monday. According to the company, the new model could offer range of up to 200 kilometers (109 nm), which would be almost six times the distance over which its in-service EH216-S aircraft operates.

The VT35, which will be priced at RMB 6.5 million ($950,000), features a tandem fixed wing configuration and is fundamentally different from the EH216’s multicopter architecture. It has eight distributed lift propellers for vertical takeoff and landing, and a pusher prop for horizontal cruise flight.

The new aircraft’s wings are 8 meters (26 feet) in length and the aircraft is 3 meters (10 feet) high with a maximum takeoff weight of 950 kilograms (2,090 pounds). EHang said the VT35, which is a development of the earlier VT30 design, will be able to operate from the same vertiports designed for the smaller EH216-S and that its “compact design reduces operational risks.”

In addition to having the EH216-S in series production with numerous examples delivered to customers and partners, the company holds an air operator certificate for commercial operations. It is also developing an aircraft called the VT20 for freight services.

Air Mobility Living Circles

A company owned by the Hefei municipal government has already placed an unspecified number of VT35s. In August, EHang and local officials announced a partnership that could see VT35 series production being based in the city which is in Anhui province. The “global debut” event this week was held in Hefei’s Luogang Park with multiple senior local officials in attendance.

Last month, the Hefei authorities published a Low-Altitude Economy Development Scenario White Paper, outlining its ambitions for deploying eVTOL aircraft, including the VT35. The manufacturer said it envisions “one-hour air mobility living circles” in highly-populous metropolitan areas such as the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

In March, the Civil Aviation Administration of China accepted EHang’s application for a type certificate. The company said that the VT35 is now undergoing airworthiness certification with both ground and flight tests, but it did not indicate when it hopes to be approved to start deliveries. It said that flight testing had included transitions between vertical and horizontal modes.