Xpeng Heitech (小鹏汇天, Xpeng Huitian), a technology unit majority-owned by Xpeng Motors and CEO He Xiaopeng, said Friday it completed takeoff and landing performance tests of its Voyager X2 flying car on the Golmud plateau in northwest China's Qinghai province.
The test results showed the flying car could take off and land, hover and fly smoothly at an altitude of 4,180 meters with no load and under load, it said.
Xpeng Heitech said the air at the test site was thin and the local temperature was only 11 degrees Celsius in late summer and early autumn.
During the test, the Voyager X2 took off in autopilot mode on relatively flat ground, with precise course positioning and lower-than-expected vibration values, it said.
The test followed dozens of flight tests of Voyager X2's predecessor, X1, at China's first Mars simulation base, 100 kilometers away from the test site, it said.
The base is 2,780 meters above sea level, where the X1 was tested in a manned flight and performed steadily in maximum wind speeds of 20 m/s, Xpeng Heitech said.
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April, Xpeng unveiled the Voyager X1, a fourth-generation intelligent electric manned vehicle that is the size of an ordinary car and can take off and land vertically in a parking space.
On July 16, He announced the release of the fifth-generation flying vehicle X2 via Weibo, saying, "this marks another step closer to a more widely available and safe flying car."
The X2 weighs 360 kg and has a maximum takeoff weight of 560 kg. It has a range of 35 minutes and can fly at speeds of up to 130 km/h.
X2 has autonomous flight path planning capabilities, and through multiple sensors, X2 can achieve ground monitoring, self-help return landing, and 100km two-way real-time communication.
Xpeng presented the X2 at the Chengdu Auto Show on August 29 and said the flying car was then being tested in extreme environments in Xining, Yushu and other high-altitude areas in Qinghai.
On September 15, several Chinese media outlets quoted Xpeng Heitech President Zhao Deli as saying that the Voyager X2 will make small-scale deliveries as early as 2024.
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