Xpeng Electric Car Be Released in Beijing Int Auto Exhibition

China’s Xpeng unveils a flying car prototype in its debut at the premier trade show of the world’s largest vehicle market which began on Saturday, in the Chinese capital.

The car carries two passengers and levitate at between 5 metres and up to 25 metres (82 feet), according to the specifications of a prototype displayed at the 2020 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition.

“Xpeng’s efforts in the electric air-enabled mobility space will remain focused on R&D and experimental designs for the present, the company reported.

Xpeng is not alone in this space either. Geely Automobile Group, the Hangzhou-based owner of Volvo Cars and the largest privately owned carmaker in China, has an all-electric flying vehicle called the X-Chimera 25 that runs on the road and flies like a plane, capable of carrying a payload of 6 kilograms.

Honda has its Fuzo, first seen in 2009, which resembles a futuristic drone with wheels and four high-powered turbofans that give the twin-seat vehicle its lifts.

“This is a long-range R&D exploration for us to really think about mobility in a greater context,” Brian Gu, vice chairman and president of Xpeng, told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of the Beijing Auto Show on Saturday.

Later, German aviation startup Volocopter has teamed up with logistics group DB Schenker to deploy its heavy-lift drones.

The remote-controlled drone can lift a load of up to 200 kilograms (440 lb) and has a range of 40 kilometres (25 miles), making it ideal for jobs such as delivering medicines to a hospital or dropping off components at a factory.

In contrast, Schenker chosen Volocopter after backing the nine-year-old start-up’s 87 million euro ($ 103 million) financing round inFebruary In overall, Volocopter has actually raised 122 million euros from financiers.

Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes explained that Drones are a technology that would allow to rethink supply chains for city logistics and its common goal is to have a commercial proof case up and running in 2021.

According to Reuter, the full certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is expected for the 18-rotor VoloCity air taxi towards the end of 2022. The VoloDrone, with a similar design, should follow in 2023.