First eVTOL Test Flight in Kyushu

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Oita city played host on July 13 to the first eVTOL flight on the island of Kyushu, an unmanned EHang 216.

The test flight took place at Notsuharu Tenku Hiroba, a dirt field area, and featured a gentle cruise of about five minutes, about 520 meters off the ground, under the watchful eye of the Oita City Urban Traffic Countermeasures Division.

The city is considering the future introduction of the aircraft to the local area.

The flight was conducted by Okayama-based Mizushima Aero & Space Industry Cluster Study Group (MASC), which is EHang’s Japanese partner company.

About 130 people, including many city officials, gathered to observe the test flight.

The following day, July 14, the EHang 216 was exhibited in an outdoor square in the city center, delighting local residents who stopped to take photos with their mobile phones.

Earlier this month, on July 6, a similar test flight of the EHang 216 was conducted in Fukuyama city, Hiroshima Prefecture, along the seacoast. In this case, Chodai Co., a general construction consulting company, conducted the test.

There have been about half a dozen EHang 216 flight tests in Japan, the first of which was occurred last June in Kurashiki city, Okayama Prefecture.

EHang is the only Chinese eVTOL company that has been active in Japan. It is known as the first eVTOL firm globally to list on a stock market. It is developing two aircraft, the multicopter EHang 216, available in three variations (passenger, cargo, and firefighting), and a tilt-and-thrust VT-30. Both planes are autonomous two-seaters and have multiple pre-orders in place, particularly in Japan and in Southeast Asia.

As the firm explained in its latest financial statement, “In January 2022, EHang received a pre-order for fifty units of EHang 216 series in Japan from AirX, a leading Japanese air mobility digital platform company with more than one hundred helicopter sightseeing operating routes and private helicopter charter services. The pre-order of EHang 216 series advanced air vehicles is planned to facilitate various urban air mobility projects in Japan and has a prospect of providing ‘air taxi’ services for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Kansai, Japan.”

The latest news from the firm is that it secured a long-term partnership agreement with the Guangzhou Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, bringing a credit line of nearly US$150 million. Another recent deal saw EHang partner with Tianxingjian Cultural Tourism Investment and Development to develop a scenic flight project at the Aizhai Wonder Tourist Area in Jishou city, Hunan Province, China.