Image Credit: Volocopter.
Everything's gone a bit quiet lately. Electric kind of quiet. Don't get me wrong - I love the silly torque of an EV that turns my kidneys into pancakes. But... I'm still waiting for the future that actually looks like the future. We were promised The Jetsons and their glass-domed bubbles tearing through the sky. What do we have instead? A lot of arguments about charging cables.
As it turns out, Shanghai has apparently decided that gravity is merely a suggestion. The news from the East? Shanghai - a city already so packed with people that personal space is just a theoretical concept - has decided it wants to be the "World's eVTOL Capital." eVTOL stands for "Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing" or "giant drone that you sit inside and pray it doesn't run out of batteries." It's the kind of tech that makes you giddy with excitement and simultaneously terrified for the structural integrity of your roof.
Image Credit: EHang.
The Shanghai government released a document recently (nothing says "future of aviation" like a government PDF, right?) outlining a plan that is bonkers. By 2028, they want the "low-altitude economy" (which is a sterile way of saying "stuff flying just above your head") to be worth 80 billion RMB. That's about $11.4 billion. Eleven billion dollars?!? That's not chump change. That's enough to buy a small country. Or three tickets to the F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, come to think of it.
It gets better. They aren't just trying to build one or two prototypes that look good in a press release. Oh no. The city targets establishing mass production capabilities for over 500 new-generation aircraft models by 2028. Can you imagine? We can barely keep track of the number of crossovers Ford is selling this week, and Shanghai wants 500 different types of flying contraptions buzzing around the skyline?
Image Credit: AutoFlight.
The plan is to attract ten leading manufacturers of these things. Shanghai wants the whole industrial chain - propellers, batteries, seats, probably the little sick bags you'll need when the autopilot decides to do a barrel roll. They are calling it a "national advanced manufacturing cluster," which sounds incredibly serious and efficient.
Who is actually building these things? The usual suspects of the Chinese automotive world, who have decided that roads are so 2023. We've got XPeng - you know, the ones who make those smart EVs that park themselves. Their subsidiary, Aridge, has already set up a factory in Guangzhou. They are targeting mass production of a modular flying car before 2026 is out. That is now, people. We are arguing about potholes, XPeng is measuring the curtains for their flying taxi.
Image Credit: Aridge.
Then you have Chery, GAC Group, Changan Automobile, and FAW Group all throwing their hats into the ring. Even JAC established a laboratory to figure this out. It's a gold rush, but instead of pickaxes, everyone is wielding carbon fiber propellers and lithium-ion battery cells. There was a rumor that BYD - the behemoth that seems to build everything from buses to batteries - was getting involved, but they denied it. Probably too busy taking over the actual roads to worry about the sky just yet. Smart move, or missing the boat? Only time will tell.
The "specs" of the ambition are staggering. Shanghai's government is looking to drive more than $2.8 billion in new investments across the chain. And the volume? By 2030, a report by the China Low Altitude Economic Alliance suggests China could see 100,000 eVTOLs entering households or operating as air taxis. One hundred thousand? In just over four years? I had to verify my sources, but yeah - these are real numbers. It's madness. It's absolute chaos waiting to happen. And I love it.
Image Credit: Chery.
The term "Low-Altitude Economy" is fascinating. It implies a whole new layer of commerce happening between the sidewalk and the skyscrapers. China has been relaxing restrictions on this airspace, which is the regulatory equivalent of opening the gates at a rock concert.
They want Shanghai to be the "World's eVTOL Capital." It's a bold target. Look, I want to be the "World's Best Dancer" - every time I have three pints of Guinness, of course. The confidence is all there, even if the execution is somewhat elusive. But the annoying skeptic in me, reminds me that flying is hard. Gravity is a cruel mistress. Putting 100,000 battery-powered vehicles in the air above a megacity requires a level of air traffic control that currently only exists in science fiction movies.
Image Credit: GAC Group.
If a car breaks down, you pull over to the shoulder and call a tow truck. If an eVTOL breaks down... well, let's just say the "landing" part of Vertical Takeoff and Landing becomes very rapid and very permanent. And yet, despite all the logistical nightmares and the safety concerns, I can't help but smile. We've been stagnant for too long. We've been refining the same internal combustion engine for a century. It's time for something daft. It's time for something dangerous…
Shanghai is throwing billions of dollars at the dream that we can all be George Jetson. Will they succeed? Who knows. Will it be entertaining to watch? Absolutely. I am actually happy to be the first test pilot. Usually, I prefer my vehicles to stay firmly on the ground, where the only thing I have to worry about is a sheep wandering onto the road, not falling out of the sky because my battery hit 1%. But this? I like this.
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