Two XPeng AeroHT eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircrafts have collided and crashed on Tuesday in China.
According to report from the local media outlet Chinese platform ‘Car Knowledge Base’ (‘懂车知识库’) on Weibo, plus eyewitnesses at the scene, one passenger was injured and has been transported to the nearest hospital.
The causes of the accident remain unclear.
Xpeng AeroHT said on Tuesday that the recent eVTOL accident at a Changchun Airshow rehearsal occurred after one of the aircraft was damaged during landing and subsequently caught fire.
The second vehicle managed to touch down without incident.
The company also noted that authorities and its eVTOL subsidiary are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash.
AeroHT is a technology unit owned by Guangzhou-based carmaker XPeng and its founder and CEO He Xiaopeng.
The unit is developing both its Land Carrier — a six-wheeled vehicle with a detachable and foldable air module — and the eVTOL flying car.
The eVTOL is a two-passenger hybrid-electric aircraft, capable of both ground driving and aerial flight, designed for urban mobility and short-distance travel.
The Land Carrier is an off-road vehicle, set to be used for emergency applications as well.
Currently, the eVTOL is only in the concept phase, while the Land Carrier is already in its prototype phase.
In late 2024, AeroHT executed the world’s first public flight of its modular flying car, the “Land Carrier,” at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition.
Pre-sales for the Land Carrier model opened in December. However, in September, the company had already received over 1,000 pre-orders, to which 2,000 more followed in November, at the Airshow.
Construction of its manufacturing lines started in October, with mass production and delivery expected to begin next year, with prices anticipated to be under 2 million yuan ($274,000).
The factory, located in Guangzhou, has a planned annual capacity of 10,000 units.
In May, the company announced that the factory is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter.
The Production Certificate application for the flying body of its Land Carrier flying car was accepted in mid-May by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), a year after they accepted the Type Certificate application.
Earlier this month, XPeng AeroHT secured a key permit in the UAE for its Land Aircraft Carrier modular flying car, marking the first overseas manned flight permit for a Chinese flying car company.
The company plans to conduct manned flight tests at multiple UAE locations.
