Another Flying Car? My Driveway Is Not Ready
Image Credit: Chery Group.
Another Tuesday, another email lands in my inbox with the subject line: "Flying Car." Honestly, at this point, I'm convinced they're breeding. This week's contestant in the race to get us off the ground and, presumably, into a whole new dimension of traffic jams is Chery, a Chinese automaker you might know. They've announced they're launching their first flying car - or, to use the less exciting but more accurate term, eVTOL - this October. My reaction? A healthy mix of eye-rolling and a genuine, childlike glee.
We've been promised flying cars since about five minutes after the first car got stuck in the mud. It's the ultimate automotive carrot on a stick. But lately, especially out of China, these announcements are coming thick and fast. It seems they're not just building cars and phones over there anymore; they're building an entire "low-altitude economy." That's the buzzword, anyway, but the goal is apparently to move this whole flying car thing from a lab curiosity into something you might actually see in your neighbor's hangar, I suppose.
Image Credit: Chery Group.
So, what exactly is Chery bringing to the party? The company plans to start the certification process for its new eVTOL in October. For the uninitiated, eVTOL stands for Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing. Think of a giant, human-sized drone. It goes up, it goes forward, it comes down, all without needing a runway that stretches halfway to the next state. It's the dream of personal aviation powered by batteries and a healthy dose of optimism.
I always thought that building a flying machine was a world away from building a hatchback. But according to Chery's top boffins, anything between 70 and 80 percent of the parts in their fancy new sky-hopper are shared with the electric car industry - motors, control systems, and, of course, the all-important batteries. This isn't just some bespoke aviation project; it's a smart leveraging of an already booming industry. I guess the Chinese quickly realized they have a serious EV overcapacity issue, and what better way to deal with it than to create an entirely new market? Genius.
Image Credit: Chery Group.
Back to Chery - it has already shown off a prototype that completed a test flight of about 50 miles. That's almost a proper journey. That's far enough to get you from a city center to a nice country pub for lunch, which in my book is the true measure of any great vehicle. They even shared a video of it, proving that at least one of these things exists outside of a PowerPoint presentation.
Of course, this is all part of a much grander plan. The Chinese government is actively relaxing its rules on low-altitude airspace, essentially opening up the skies for business. And the forecasts are ambitious. One report suggests China could have 100,000 eVTOLs buzzing about by 2030, either as private vehicles or air taxis. They believe that in just a couple of years, major cities will have the necessary flight networks and ground services ready to go. The future is apparently arriving via drone delivery.
Image Credit: Chery Group.
Of course, the question that's on everyone's mind: How much will this slice of the future cost me? Right now, an eVTOL will set you back $1.4 million, give or take a few thousand greenbacks. A bit steep for the school run. However, the prediction is that by 2030, the price for a four- or five-seater model will drop to somewhere between $275,000 and $415,000. Still not pocket change, but it's moving from the realm of pure fantasy to the realm of the very, very well-off. Soon, for the price of a supercar, you could have a vehicle that laughs at rush hour.
And Chery isn't alone in this airborne gold rush. You've got Ehang, which has apparently already delivered hundreds of its two-seater models. You have XPeng's subsidiary, XPeng AeroHT, building a factory with the aim of mass production by 2026. Then there's GAC with its "Govy" brand and Changan, which expects to be testing its own flying machine by the end of this year. It's a full-blown aerial arms race, and it's happening right now.
Image Credit: Chery Group.
The vision extends even further into a future where these vehicles are largely unmanned. Artificial intelligence and advanced human-machine interfaces are expected to take the stick, turning these eVTOLs into autonomous taxis for people, cargo, emergency services, and even tourism. The idea of hopping into a pilotless pod and being whisked away over the city is both thrilling and, I admit, quite a bit terrifying. I'm not sure I'm ready to trust my commute to an algorithm just yet.
What's the verdict? Am I a believer? As always, I'm a hopeful skeptic. The sheer momentum, investment, and technological overlap with the EV industry make this feel more real than any flying car promise we've had before. The dream of a three-dimensional transportation network is genuinely exciting. But we are talking about a fundamental shift in how we live and move. For now, I'll keep my feet - and my tires - firmly on the ground. But I'll also be keeping one eye on the sky, waiting for the day my pizza, or maybe even my neighbor, gets delivered by drone. What a time to be alive.
