EHang EH216-L (production model)

EH216-L (production model)
EHang Holdings Limited
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
www.ehang.com

EHang was founded in December 2014 by Huazhi Hu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Derrick Yifang Xiong, Director and Chief Marketing Officer. EHang is an autonomous aerial vehicle technology platform company based in China and is pioneering the future of all-electric aerial transportation through multiple proprietary products and services. The company designs and manufactures electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) passenger and cargo aircraft for advanced air mobility (AAM). The mission of EHang is to provide safe, autonomous and eco-friendly air mobility for everyone.

EHang's proprietary electric products and services include:

• eVTOL passenger transportation
• eVTOL logistics
• Smart city management
• Command and Control Center (For passenger, cargo and drone services.)
• Multiple commercial eVTOL drone services (Such as aerial mapping; forest fire surveillance, inspection and reporting; public safety surveillance; traffic management; 3 dimension modeling; news reporting and more.)
• eVTOL Aerial Media (Light shows in the sky at night created by using thousands of drones.

In January 2016, EHang announced the world’s first autonomous one (1) passenger EHang 184 eVTOL prototype. In 2018, the company announced both a one passenger EHang 116 eVTOL production version aircraft and their EHang 216 eVTOL production version aircraft. EHang delivered their first EHang 216 aircraft to a customer in March 2018, for testing, training and demonstration purposes. The EHang 116 and 216 can also perform cargo-only flights.

Our autopilot and flight control system collects and analyzes data from sensors installed on our autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs), including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetic compass, barometers, visual sensors, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and millimeter wave radars. Informed by the extensive data collected by these sensors, our AAVs use advanced algorithms to make intelligent navigation decisions, including correcting courses, adapting to weather conditions and avoiding obstacles during flight.

—EHang

EH216-L eVTOL air cargo multicopter drone
The EH216-L Logistics is a heavy-lift air cargo eVTOL multicopter drone that carries only cargo and no passengers.The multicopter has 16 propellers, 16 electric motors and is powered by batteries. The cruise speed of the aircraft is 100 km/h (62 mph) and has a maximum speed of 130 km/h (81 mph). The range of the multicopter is 35 km (22 miles) and has a flight time of 21 minutes. The time to fully recharge the batteries is 120 minutes. The maximum payload weight is 220 kg (485 lb) and the maximum takeoff weight is 600 kg (1,323 lbs).

The safety, the company adheres to a full redundancy safety design and fail-safe system, air cargo drone employs 16 coaxial propellers, 16 electric motors on eight arms and its core system is equipped with redundancy backup. Under the networked supervision and monitoring of command and dispatch center, it can realize accurate vertical take-off and landing, along with the automatic flight on an inverted U-shaped route.

The U shape route means that the aircraft takes off vertically and then flies at a predetermined altitude avoiding any buildings, structures, trees and any other aircraft, then when over its landing spot, it lands vertically like a helicopter. The aircraft be flown anytime during the day or night, but during extreme weather conditions, the aircraft will be grounded.

Based on massive amounts of data, EHang's smart logistics ecosystem uses cloud computing and autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) for aerial cargo transportation. The company see that current difficulties in delivering goods to urban and rural areas, industrial parks and islands will be solved by cargo eVTOL remotely controlled aircraft.

The EH216-L air cargo multicopters will fly along pre-programmed routes and complete pre-programmed tasks. Since there is no need for manual intervention over the delivery flight route, efficiency should be higher when compared to non-autonomous craft. There is a waybill management software system which controls and records the receiving of cargo, the flight and delivery of the cargo. For example, their system can track and record the distribution of on-demand food delivery with complete flight data sent to the end user, the merchant and others using a computer or cell phone app.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL air cargo multicopter aircraft
• Piloting: Remote control, autopilot or autonomous
• Capacity: Air cargo (no passengers)
• Cruise speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
• Maximum speed: 130 km/h (81 mph)
• Range: 35 km (22 miles)
• Flight time: 21 minutes
• Maximum payload weight: 220 kg (485 lb)
• Maximum takeoff weight: 600 kg (1,323 lbs)
• Propellers: 16 propellers
• Electric Motors: 16 electric motors
• Time to full charge: About 120 minutes
• Landing gear: Fixed skid landing gear
• Safety Features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers and motors on the aircraft so if one or more motors or propellers fail, the other working motors and propellers can safely land the aircraft.

Related Aircraft:

• EHang 116 (prototype)
• EHang 184 (defunct)
• EHang EH216-F (production model)
• EHang EH216-S (production model)
• EHang VT-25 (concept design)
• EHang VT-30 (prototype)

Company Insights:

• Pitchbook
• Crunchbase
• MarketWatch
• Tracxn
• Wikipedia

Resources:

• EHang website
• EHange Logisitics 
• EHang Urban Air Mobility Information
• EHang Facebook
• EHang Twitter
• EHang Instagram
• EHang YouTube
• Article: EHang air taxi approved for heavy-lift air logistics in China, New Atlas, May 27, 2020
• Article: Chinese flying taxi maker Ehang gets approval to test drone deliveries for cargo weighing over 150kg, South China Morning Post, May 29, 2020
• Article: Pilotless Drone Taxi Will Deliver Aid to Rural China, Flykit Blog, June 11, 2020
• Article: How EHang Built an eVTOL for the World, Electric VTOL News, June 19, 2020
• Article: China’s First National Standard for Express Delivery Service by Unmanned Aircraft Jointly Formulated by EHang will be Effective from January 1, 2021, EHang, Dec. 29, 2020