Xpeng held the groundbreaking ceremony of the modular flying car manufacturing plant on October 27. It will start volume production with an annual capacity of 10,000 units in 2026. In September this year, Xpeng got over 3,000 orders for this flying car even before the official presales started.
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Previously, Xpeng’s unit Xpeng AeroHT had developed five generations of their flying cars. However, they looked like everything but a car. In 2021, Xpeng announced it will develop a road-legal vehicle with deployable rotors on the roof. However, it turned out to be too difficult to lock rotors properly to prevent damage from vibrations when the car is driving on the road.
Xpeng modular flying car recap
As a result, Xpeng AeroHT switched to another project, which is the modular flying car called Land Aircraft Carrier (LAC). It was officially released on September 3 with an approximate price tag of 2 million yuan (~280K USD). It consists of two elements. The first one is a three-axle carrier, and the second is a sizeable drone that stores inside that carrier.
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In September, Xpeng announced the Land Aircraft Carrier will perform its first public flight at the Zhuhai Air Show in November 2024. After the launch, the company shared it received over 3,000 intended purchase orders after the presentation. The cumulative reservation order number is over 1,000 units. However, the mass production of the LAC is scheduled for 2026.
On October 27, Xpeng AeroHT started building the manufacturing plant for this modular vehicle.
Xpeng AeroHT plant
Xpeng AeroHT held the groundbreaking ceremony of the assembly plant in the Guangzhou Development Zone. It is worth pointing out that the company initially intended to launch the construction of the factory in September. But they broke ground in late October.
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According to Xpeng AeroHT, the new factory will produce only the flying aircraft of the modular car. It seems that the large three-axle carrier will be assembled at one of the current Xpeng EV manufacturing plants. We will remind you that the Chinese automaker currently has two plants in Zhaoqing and Guangzhou.
Back to the Xpeng AeroHT upcoming manufacturing facility, it will cover an area of 180,000 square meters. The factory will include four production workshops and ancillary facilities for painting and general assembly. The planned annual production capacity of this plant reaches 10,000 units.
Previously, we at CarNewsChina described the future of this project as foggy. There are several reasons for this: the necessity of obtaining a flight license to operate the aircraft, an undeveloped legal framework of flying cars in China, and the high price of the Land Aircraft Carrier. It most likely won’t become a hot seller among private customers. However, Xpeng said it actively cooperates with key customers like rescue services. They can provide enough orders for the Land Aircraft Carrier.
More about the Land Aircraft Carrier
The aircraft carrier’s length, width, and height are 5.5 meters, 2 meters, and 2 meters, respectively. It keeps minimalistic styling with a blocky body shape and smooth A-pillars that merge into the roofline. The carrier is EREV based on the 800V platform. The mixed range of this carrier reaches 1,000 km (CLTC). Thanks to the high-voltage system, it can charge the aircraft from 30 to 80% in 18 minutes.
The aircraft is all-electric. It can automatically land and dock with the carrier. To fit the trunk of the carrier, it folds its rotors. On a full charge, the aircraft can support 5-6 flights. It has two driving modes: manual and automatic.
It is worth mentioning that modular flying cars became a growing trend in China. This month, Chery revealed its own unmanned modular flying car.
