China Is Selling Flying Cars for the Price of a Porsche
Image Credit: Govy.
For longer than I'm willing to admit, I've been hearing the same old story. "The future is just around the corner!" they'd say, waving brochures of cars that looked like spaceships and promising jetpacks for everyone. I've seen concept cars that could supposedly swim and concept boats that could supposedly fly. Most of it, let's be honest, has been utter codswallop. The future, it seemed, was always destined to remain firmly in the future.
This morning, something landed on my desk. It wasn't another press release about a scooter with a slightly larger battery. It was an announcement that a major Chinese automaker, GAC, has officially started pre-sales for its electric flying "car." And I don't mean in 2045. I mean right now. You can, theoretically, put your name down for one today.
The machine in question is called the Govy AirCab - perfect name for a ride-sharing service for pigeons - but I assure you it's far more interesting. This is a proper, honest-to-goodness electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. It's a sleek, two-seat pod made almost entirely of carbon fiber, and GAC says it's ready for mass production. My inner child is screaming with delight, while my sensible adult brain is looking for the catch.
Image Credit: Govy.
And you might think the catch is the price. You'd be wrong. The official guide price is "no more than" $234,000. Now, hold on. That's roughly the price of a very well-appointed Porsche 911. It's less than a Lamborghini Huracán. You could spend that much on a tiny apartment in a city you don't even like. For that money, GAC is offering you the chance to literally rise above it all.
What do you get for your quarter-million dollars? The body is over 90 percent carbon fiber composite, which is serious aerospace and supercar stuff. This isn't some backyard project involving a garden shed and a drone motor. It's a two-seater, so you can bring a friend along to share in the glorious, terrifying experience of personal flight.
GAC says its flying pod is equipped with "high-density cylindrical batteries" that can be charged in just 25 minutes. That's astonishingly fast. That's quicker than it takes to watch an episode of your favorite sitcom. It's a brilliant piece of engineering. But it leads me, the gentle skeptic, to ask one very important question.
Image Credit: Govy.
What's the range? How far can this flying pod actually fly on a single 25-minute charge? And on this crucial point, GAC is completely silent. Not a peep. Not a whisper. It's like bragging about how quickly you can chug a beer without mentioning it's in a thimble-sized glass. Are we talking a 100-mile jaunt across the countryside? Or is this just for hopping over a single, particularly nasty traffic jam on your way to the office? My guess is that "low-altitude tourism," its stated first mission, means "very, very short trips with a great view."
And that's exactly the plan. GAC will begin demonstration flights this year in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. So, for now, it's a very fancy, very expensive tourist attraction. Deliveries to actual customers who've laid down their cash are scheduled to begin by the end of 2026, which is basically tomorrow in aero development terms.
But here's the part that truly boggles the mind. The Govy AirCab supports Level 4 autonomous flying. Let me translate that for you: you don't even have to know how to fly the thing. You get in, tell it where you want to go, and it handles the rest. We've spent years getting excited about cars that can park themselves, and these folks have leapfrogged all the way to a plane that flies itself. It's the ultimate expression of human achievement, or perhaps human laziness. I haven't decided which yet.
Image Credit: Govy.
I know, utter madness. But if you think this is just one company getting a bit carried away, it isn't. This is a full-blown movement in China. A company called Ehang has already delivered hundreds of its own eVTOLs. Xpeng, another name you might recognize, is building a factory to mass-produce its flying contraption by 2026. Automakers Changan and Chery are hot on their heels. While the rest of the world is arguing about charging standards, China is building a whole new dimension of transport they call the "low-altitude economy."
Is the Govy AirCab the answer to our transportation woes? No, of course not. Not yet. But is it a magnificent, audacious, and slightly bonkers sign of things to come? Absolutely. It's proof that the future we were promised isn't some far-off dream anymore. It's being built, tested, and sold right now. As long as you are in China, for the price of a sports car, you can buy a piece of that future. Just don't ask how far it'll go.
