Check out video footage of XPeng AeroHT’s flying car completing its maiden flight
Following XPeng’s recent 1024 Tech Day event in China earlier this week, we have finally been able to share video footage of its latest generation of eVTOL built by AeroHT. As promised during the presentation, XPeng’s flying car prototype completed its maiden flight and has the receipts to prove it. You’ve gotta see this.
Earlier this week, we delivered a recap of XPeng’s annual 1024 Tech Day, where the company introduces new and upcoming products and services, whiles teasing some of the advanced technologies it’s developing for the future. For a second year in a row, XPeng’s urban air mobility (UAM) division AeroHT stole the show with its flying car prototype.
The unique eVTOL that can drive on roads and navigate through air was first unveiled at XPeng’s 1024 Tech Day in 2021, which included some sleek renderings and an animated video. This year’s presentation included news that the XPeng AeroHT team had upgraded the design of the sixth-generation eVTOL from a horizontal dual-rotor structure, to a new distributed multi-rotor configuration.
The company also shared that the overall system design complexity of the eVTOL had been reduced to ensure better safety and reliability during flights. Better yet, a prototype had been built and had completed its maiden flight. Naturally, we were eager to see this footage, but it was shared during the end of the Tech Day Presentation in China, and we had to wait for the entire video to be translated to English and posted.
In the meantime, we shared a cool video of XPeng’s latest flying car in action, but it was once again animated renderings and not the real thing. Today however, we have gotten our hands on footage of the maiden flight, and it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, although it’s not without its journalistic skepticism and future safety concerns. Check it out below.
Watch XPeng’s flying car take off, fly, and land
As promised, we were able to track down and share footage of the flying car flight, straight from the end of XPeng’s translated Tech Day presentation. There’s lots of other cool technology on the way from this Chinese automaker, so we recommend checking out the full presentation if you have time.
Anyways, back to the flight. As you’ll soon see, the flying car prototype drives out onto a tarmac, engages its propellers, and takes off vertically as the XPeng AeroHT team looks on with bated breath. The flying car doesn’t move around too much, but it does reach a decent height before descending back to Earth and sticking its landing, thanks to the vehicle’s suspension and tires.
Check out the video below and let’s talk about it. Does this look legitimate? Is this the future of mobility a la The Jetsons? Or are we on the fast track to getting decapitated?
Electrek’s Take
This footage is as scary and concerning as it is exciting and awe-inspiring. There are plenty of ways that XPeng and AeroHT could have pulled this flying car video off, perhaps using a lighter-weight vehicle or cardboard parts. But in my interactions with the team and its engineers, that doesn’t seem like their style. He Xiaopeng is not Trevor Milton, and AeroHT is something he has personally invested in, in addition to funding from XPeng Inc.
Regardless of how viable this flying car is, there is no denying the fact that we have not seen anything like this before. UAM continues to grow and move closer to reality each day with eVTOLs designed more similarly to planes than anything, but XPeng has combined a car. A flying car.
At its very nucleus, the mere fact that XPeng and AeroHT were able to imagine a flying car like this, assemble a prototype, and get it airborne should be commended. Even if it does not become a scaled production vehicle, its challenge to the status quo and proving what is possible is perhaps worth more. We need more of this sort of thinking and tinkering out there.
Obviously, there are major safety concerns regarding the propellers, and there would need to be serious regulations and safe practices before this becomes a viable mobility segment, but that’s the boring stuff that’s a lot easier than building a vehicle that can drive, retract propellers, and take off into the air. Read that sentence again. What a time to be alive.
XPeng and AeroHT are a long ways away from the beautiful rendering you see in the image above, but by developing and testing this flying car with video proof, they are arguably closer to delivering one than anybody else out there. You simply cannot knock people for trying. They should be celebrated.
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National Grid Renewables has broken ground on its 100 MW Apple River Solar Project in Polk County, Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin solar farm, which will use US-made First Solar Series 6 Plus bifacial modules, will be constructed by The Boldt Company, creating 150 construction and service jobs. Apple River Solar will generate over $36 million in direct economic benefits over its first 20 years.
Once it comes online in late 2025, Apple River Solar will supply clean energy to Xcel Energy, which serves customers throughout the Upper Midwest. According to National Grid Renewables, the solar farm will generate enough energy to power around 26,000 homes annually. It will also offset about 129,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year – equivalent to taking 30,900 cars off the road.
“We are excited to see this project begin as it underscores our dedication to delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Karl Hoesly, President, Xcel Energy-Wisconsin and Michigan. “This project is an important step in those goals while bringing significant economic benefits to Polk County and the local townships.”
Electrek reported in February that Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, expects to cut more than 80% – and possibly up to 88% – of its emissions by 2030, putting it on track to hit Minnesota’s goal of net zero by 2040. It also says it’s on track to achieve its clean energy goals for all the Upper Midwest states it serves – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.
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Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging as it is about to install its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets.
The rollout of Supercharger V4 has been a strange one, to say the least.
Tesla has been deploying the new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.
Supercharger stations are made of two main parts: the stalls, which are where the charging cable is located, and the cabinets, which are generally located further back and include all the power electronics.
For all these new “Supercharger V4”, Tesla was actually using Supercharger V3 cabinets. This has been limiting the power output of the charging stations to 250 kW – although
Today, Tesla officially announced its “V4 Cabinet”, which the automaker claims will enable of “delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.”
Here are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:
- Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
- Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
- Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.
Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year.
We recently reported about Tesla’s new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to all Supercharger stations, and Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
It took about 8 years, but it sounds like the pieces are now getting actually in place with Supercharger V4, Megapacks, and this new Oasis project.
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Hyundai has a new secret weapon it’s about ready to unleash. To revamp the brand in China and counter BYD’s surge, Hyundai is launching a new AI-powered EV next year. The new model will be Hyundai’s first dedicated electric car for the world’s largest EV market.
With the help of Haomo, a Chinese autonomous startup, Hyundai will launch its first EV equipped with generative AI. It will also be its first model designed specifically for China.
A Hyundai Motor official said (via The Korea Herald) the company is “working to load the software” onto the new EV model, “which will be released in the Chinese market next year.” The spokesperson added, “The level of autonomous driving is somewhere between 2 and 2.5.”
In comparison, Tesla’s Autopilot is considered a level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the SAE scale (0 to 5), meaning it offers limited hands-free features.
With Autopilot, you still have to keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel, or the system will notify you and eventually disengage.
Haomo’s system, DriveGPT, unveiled last spring, takes inspiration from the OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.
The system can continuously update in real-time to optimize decision-making by absorbing traffic data patterns. According to Haomo, DriveGPT is used in around 20 models as it looks to play a bigger role in China.
Hyundai hopes new AI-powered EV boosts sales in China
Electric vehicle sales continue surging in China. According to Rho Motion, China set another EV sales record last month with 1.2 million units sold, up 50% from October 2023.
Over 8.4 million EVs were sold in China in the first ten months of 2024, a notable 38% increase from last year.
BYD continues to dominate its home market. According to Autovista24, BYD accounted for 32.9% of all PHEV and EV (NEV) sales in China through September, with over half of the top 20 best-selling EV models.
Tesla was second with a 6.5% share of the market, but keep in mind these numbers only include plug-in models (PHEV).
Like most foreign automakers, Hyundai is struggling to keep up with the influx of low-cost electric models in China. Beijing Hyundai’s sales have been slipping since 2017. Through September, Korean automaker’s share of the Chinese market fell to just 1.2%.
Last month, Hyundai opened its first overseas digital R&D center in China to help kick off its return to the region.
According to local reports, Hyundai is partnering with other local tech companies like Thundersoft, a smart cockpit provider, and others in China to power up its next-gen EVs
With its first AI-powered EV launching next year, Hyundai hopes to turn things around in the region quickly. The new model will be one of five to launch in China through 2026.
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