Chinese air taxi company EHang has established a new joint venture with JAC Motors to fund construction of a production facility for its eVTOL aircraft following the company’s first unmanned urban eVTOL flight test in Spain – the first such milestone in Europe.
The new joint venture (JV) between EHang, JAC Motors, and Guoxian Holdings will see the construction of a new construction compound in Hefei, the capital of Anhui, China. The JV hopes to integrate the city’s existing production supply chains new aircraft/eVTOL manufacturing technology, promote the standardization of key aircraft components, and establish unified industry standards in the growing air taxi space.Founded in 1964, JAC Motors has a long history of large-scale vehicle manufacturing in China, and will bring that expertise to the new eVTOL-focused JV.
“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,” said Xingchu Xiang, Chairman, and General Manager of JAC Motors. “By leveraging Hefei’s high-quality resources, this collaboration aims to drive the high-quality growth of emerging industries.”
The company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Hefei’ municipal government back in October of 2023, which led to the establishment of two eVTOL “vertiports” at Luogang Central Park in Hefei. Those facilities followed the construction of a similar, 5G-connected vertiport in Guangzhou, China in 2022, which, themselves, followed a $150 million funding round.
EHang received a flight license for commercial operation of its unmanned passenger air taxis the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) the following year. More of this article (electrek) - link - more like this (evtol) - link
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