EHang VT-30

VT-30
EHang
Guangzhou, China
www.ehang.com

EHang was founded in December 2014 in Guangzhou, China 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 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aerial transportation through multiple proprietary products and services for air cargo service, fire fighting, new reporting, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and more.

EHang's proprietary electric products and services include:

• eVTOL Passenger Transportation
• 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 Logistics
• eVTOL Aerial Media (Light shows in the sky at night created by using thousands of drones.)
• Smart Cities
• Command and Control Center (For passenger, cargo and drone services.)

EHang first unveiled its initial design, the single-seat model 184, at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. EHang had delivered more than 130 units of its two-seat model 216 by the end of 2020.

After many months of rumors and speculation, Guangzhou, China-based EHang acknowledged in a tweet on March 9, 2021, “EHang has been developing long-range electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle (called the VT30) for years. We are about to run the test flight of this new product in months, which will have many new breakthrough features. We will release more information in time.”

On May 4, 2021, EHang tweeted, "We are pleased to announce that EHang's long range AAV (Autonomous Aerial Vehicle) VT-30 has successfully completed the first phase of vertical take-off and landing trial flight. We'll carry out the second phase of endurance flight test as planned." At the time of the Twitter post, no official photograph of the aircraft was posted. The VT-30 will be a lift+cruise aircraft, taking off vertically and then transitioning to forward flight using a pusher propeller and its wings.

EHang has also stated they are making several variations of their VT lift+cruise eVTOL aircraft. The small VT-20 is said to be in production, has a speed range of 30-120 km/h (18-75 mph) and a flight time of over three hours. The VT-20 is planned to be used to survey flight routes for VT-30 flights, ultimately making it a critical component for the future of EHang's UAM infrastructure planning process.

The other EHang eVTOL lift+cruise model is the VT-25 with a range of 400 km (250 m), with eight VTOL propellers, one rear pusher propeller, a low main wing with winglets, a twin tail boom and possibly has tricycle fixed strut-type landing gear.

On May 25, 2021, EHang revealed pictures and more details of its VT-30 long-range flagship eco-friendly all-electric zero-emissions and low noise aircraft. The specifications that have been reported as of this date is the aircraft is autonomous, hold two passengers, has a 300 km (186 m) range, a flight time of 100 minutes, its empty weight is 700 kg (1,543 lb) and has fixed tricycle wheeled landing gear. A lift+cruise aircraft uses dedicated propellers for VTOL flight and has wings and a one dedicated pusher propeller for forward flight.

The aircraft has a tri-redundancy fly-by-wire control system which can be flexibly altered into multiple modes, providing a much higher safety level for the aircraft. The aircraft has been designed with inter-city travel in mind, that is, to fly people between two cities.

In late December 2021, EHang received its first order for VT-30 eVTOL aircraft with Japan’s Okayama Kurashiki Mizushima Aero & Space Industry Cluster Study Group, to study the aircraft for advanced air mobility (AAM). EHang did not say how many aircraft were ordered.

On Mar. 11, 2022, eVTOL Magazine reported that Aerotree (Philippines) purchased 50 EHang 216 eVTOL models and 10 VT-30 eVTOL models, for a grand total of 60 eVTOL aircraft.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL aircraft for UAM
• Piloting: Autonomous
• Capacity: 2 people
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Range: 300 km (186 m)
• Flight Time: 100 minutes
• Propellers: 8 VTOL propellers, 1 pusher propeller
• Electric Motors: 9 electric motors for the propellers
• Power source: Batteries
• Empty weight: 700 kg (1,543 lb)
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Canopy type cockpit
• Wings: One low main wing
• Tail: Inverted V tail boom
• Landing gear: Fixed tricycle wheeled type 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. The aircraft has a tri-redundancy fly-by-wire control system which can be flexibly altered into multiple modes, providing a much higher safety level for the aircraft. The aircraft can land like a plane because it has wheeled landing gear.

Company Insights:

• Pitchbook
• Crunchbase
• MarketWatch
• Tracxn
• Wikipedia

Resources:

• EHang website
• EHang Urban Air Mobility Information
• EHang Facebook
• EHang Twitter
• EHang Instagram
• EHang YouTube
• Article: EHang confirms plans for winged eVTOL and piloted version of EH216, EVTOL Magazine, Apr. 16, 2021
• Article: EHang provides first look at VT-30 passenger aircraft, eVTOL Magazine, May 25, 2021
• Article: EHang Reveals Long-Range VT-30 AAV to Expand Regional Air Mobility Coverage, EHang, May 26, 2021
• Article: Episode 1: EHang latest updates, rumours and general chit-chat, Urban Air Mobility News, June 4, 2021
• Video: EHang VT-30: Long-Range Passenger-grade Autonomous Aerial Vehicle, EHang, Sept. 27, 2021
• Article: Global EHang long-range VT-30 AAV debut before Zhuhai Airshow, Fifty Sky Shades, Sept. 27, 2021
• Article: Manned Autopilot Debuts in Zhuhai, Xinhua News Agency, Sept. 27, 2021
• Article: China's Rising eVTOL Industry, Vertiflite, Nov/Dec 2021
• Article: EHang announces launch order for longer-range VT-30 eVTOL aircraft, FutureFlight, Dec. 23, 2021
• Article: EHang forges new partnership with Aerotree, deal includes pre-order for 60 eVTOL, eVTOL Magazine, March 11, 2022