EHang provides first look at VT-30 passenger aircraft

By eVTOL | May 25, 2021

The Chinese eVTOL developer EHang has released the first photos of its VT-30 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV), first announced last month.

The lift-plus-cruise aircraft is targeting a range of 300 kilometers (185 miles), significantly greater than the 35-km (22-mile) range of EHang’s flagship EH216 multicopter. The company said the two-passenger VT30 is geared toward inter-city travel in city clusters such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, complementing intra-city applications of the EH216.

The VT-30 features eight lifting propellers distributed across two booms for vertical take-offs and landings, and a pusher propeller at the rear of the fuselage for cruise flight. With a main wing and combined lifting rudder surface at the tail, the VT-30 will also be able to take off and land like an airplane.

EHang said the VT-30 has already performed a vertical take-off and landing, as well as power system and other tests.

In a press release, EHang founder and CEO Huazhi Hu said that the VT-30 and EH216 will form the core of EHang’s “service-oriented operations strategy” for the carriage of passengers and goods.

“We will work continuously to obtain regulatory certification for our various AAV products, including the VT-30, and provide a more convenient and efficient public urban air mobility operational [service],” he said.