PICTURES: EHang Completes First Cross-Province eVTOL Flight Across China’s Qiongzhou Strait

EHang’s EH216-series pilot­less eVTOL air­craft has com­plet­ed a point-to-point flight across the Qiongzhou Strait in Chi­na, com­plet­ing the 22km jour­ney in just 18 min­utes.

The air­craft depart­ed from Nan­hai Mingzhu Island in Haik­ou City, Hainan Province, and arrived at Xuwen Port in Zhan­jiang City, Guang­dong Province. A typ­i­cal fer­ry cross­ing would take between 60 to 90 min­utes, so this mile­stone rep­re­sents an improved trav­el effi­cien­cy of between 70 to 80 per cent.

Addi­tion­al­ly, EHang says this jour­ney val­i­dates the tech­ni­cal capa­bil­i­ties and effi­cien­cy of pilot­less eVTOL air­craft in over-water oper­a­tions and lays a sol­id tech­no­log­i­cal foun­da­tion for future coor­di­nat­ed low-alti­tude mobil­i­ty devel­op­ment between Hainan and Guang­dong Provinces.

Wang Zhao, Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer of EHang, said, “The suc­cess­ful cross­ing of the Qiongzhou Strait by our EH216-series pilot­less eVTOL val­i­dates its adapt­abil­i­ty and the effi­cien­cy gains it brings in com­plex envi­ron­ments like over-water routes.

“This achieve­ment is also a sig­nif­i­cant result of our col­lab­o­ra­tion with part­ners to com­pre­hen­sive­ly enhance core safe­ty per­for­mance and joint­ly build a diverse appli­ca­tion ecosys­tem. Coin­cid­ing with the his­toric oppor­tu­ni­ty of the Hainan Free Trade Port’s spe­cial cus­toms oper­a­tions, the low-alti­tude economy—a key emerg­ing sec­tor for the Port—is fac­ing promis­ing growth prospects.

He added: “EHang will lever­age this oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue empow­er­ing diverse appli­ca­tions in Hainan, includ­ing long-dis­tance logis­tics, and emer­gency response, with our pilot­less air­craft tech­nol­o­gy. We are com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing Hainan in build­ing a nation­al inno­va­tion and demon­stra­tion hub for the low-alti­tude econ­o­my.”

The EH216-series air­craft that suc­cess­ful­ly crossed the strait is equipped with a high-ener­gy sol­id-state bat­tery co-devel­oped by EHang and its part­ner Inx Ener­gy.

This flight effec­tive­ly demon­strates the stable per­for­mance of this bat­tery in com­plex envi­ron­ments such as over-water eVTOL oper­a­tions, pro­vid­ing strong tech­ni­cal sup­port for diverse appli­ca­tions includ­ing cross-strait trans­porta­tion, island tourism, mar­itime emer­gency response, and island logis­tics.

It also paves the way for effec­tive inter-provin­cial con­nec­tiv­i­ty and extends to longer-range flights cov­er­ing mul­ti­ple cities with­in the Guang­dong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, enabling inter-city pas­sen­ger and car­go trans­port and accel­er­at­ing the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of the low-alti­tude econ­o­my.

With the Hainan Free Trade Port now ful­ly oper­a­tional under its spe­cial cus­toms regime, a range of tai­lored low-alti­tude appli­ca­tion sce­nar­ios are emerg­ing. These encom­pass low-alti­tude pas­sen­ger trans­port to alle­vi­ate con­ges­tion across the Qiongzhou Strait, cross-bor­der logis­tics to enhance the Port’s cir­cu­la­tion effi­cien­cy, and cross-strait tourism link­ing the cul­tur­al resources of Hainan and Guang­dong.

Xiao Fax­u­an, Chair­man of Hainan Air­port Group, said: “EHang’s suc­cess­ful pilot­less eVTOL flight across the Qiongzhou Strait is a vivid exam­ple of inno­v­a­tive devel­op­ment in Hainan’s low-alti­tude econ­o­my. We will seize the oppor­tu­ni­ty pre­sent­ed by the Free Trade Port’s spe­cial cus­toms oper­a­tions to build a pio­neer zone for low-alti­tude econ­o­my appli­ca­tions, empow­er­ing indus­tri­al devel­op­ment through prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tions and mak­ing the low-alti­tude econ­o­my a new growth engine for the Free Trade Port.

“We will also deep­en col­lab­o­ra­tion between Hainan Province and Guang­dong Province, inte­grate pol­i­cy and indus­tri­al resources across both provinces, facil­i­tate smooth cross-province air mobil­i­ty, and unite pow­er­ful syn­er­gies for low-alti­tude econ­o­my devel­op­ment, there­by infus­ing greater vital­i­ty into the Hainan Free Trade Port.”

The EH216-series air­craft that suc­cess­ful­ly crossed the strait is equipped with a high-ener­gy sol­id-state bat­tery co-devel­oped by EHang and its part­ner Inx Ener­gy.

This flight effec­tive­ly demon­strates the sta­ble per­for­mance of this bat­tery in com­plex envi­ron­ments such as over-water eVTOL oper­a­tions, pro­vid­ing strong tech­ni­cal sup­port for diverse appli­ca­tions includ­ing cross-strait trans­porta­tion, island tourism, mar­itime emer­gency response, and island logis­tics.

It also paves the way for effec­tive inter-provin­cial con­nec­tiv­i­ty and extends to longer-range flights cov­er­ing mul­ti­ple cities with­in the Guang­dong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, enabling inter-city pas­sen­ger and car­go trans­port and accel­er­at­ing the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of the low-alti­tude econ­o­my.

EHang, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with its part­ners, has active­ly con­duct­ed appli­ca­tion sce­nario flights under var­i­ous weath­er con­di­tions and ter­rains world­wide. It has accu­mu­lat­ed exten­sive safe flight data in envi­ron­ments exceed­ing 3,000 meters in alti­tude, extreme cold and heat, typhoons, rain, snow, and over rivers, lakes, and seas.