Electric aircraft developer EHang has chosen the Chinese city of Yunfu as the location for the main factory to build its Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs). The China-based group said the facility will have an initial capacity to build 600 eVTOL aircraft each year, but in a July 30 statement did not reveal when production will begin.
The local city government is to invest $6 million in the new factory, which is located in China’s Guangdong province. It is not clear on what terms this investment is being made, or how much EHang itself is contributing to construction costs.
EHang intends to build both the single-seat 116 AAV and the two-seat 216 AAV at the Yunfu site. The facility is also due to include a research and development center, as well as space for operational and technical training.
Separately, on July 29 EHang announced that Transport Canada granted it a special flight operations certificate to conduct flight trials with the 216 AAV in the province of Quebec. The company has not indicated when the trials will begin or how they might contribute to efforts to achieve type certification. EHang has previously been granted permission to conduct flight trials for demonstration purposes in China, Norway, and the U.S.
