- Xpeng Aeroht and Dongan signed a strategic cooperation agreement to create aviation-specific hybrid systems.
- Dongan is the range-extender supplier for Xpeng Aeroht's modular flying car's parent vehicle.
Xpeng Aeroht, the flying car unit of Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), has entered into a strategic partnership with a local automotive engine maker to prepare its modular flying car for mass production.
Xpeng Aeroht and Harbin Dongan Auto Engine officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement on May 21, according to an announcement by the engine maker today.
The two companies will jointly work on next-generation aerospace hybrid system technologies, Dongan said.
They will create more energy-efficient, lightweight and low-cost aviation-specific hybrid systems to provide core power support for Xpeng Aeroht's next-generation flying cars, the announcement said.
Founded in 2013, Xpeng Aeroht is a technology unit majority-owned by Guangzhou-based Xpeng and its chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng.
Dongan first partnered with Xpeng Aeroht in July 2023 as a range-extender supplier for the mother vehicle of the latter's "Land Aircraft Carrier" modular flying car, according to the announcement.
The mother vehicle has a CLTC range of more than 1,000 kilometers and can recharge the flying body, the announcement noted.
Aeroht's flying car development path would include the eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) flying car and the modular flying car, Xpeng said at the October 24, 2023, Tech Day event.
The modular flying car in its entirety consists of a flying car, as well as a parent vehicle that can recharge the flying body.
Xpeng Aeroht would mass-produce and deliver the modular flying car in 2026, with a price tag of no more than RMB 2 million ($276,800), its founder and president, Zhao Deli, said in September 2024.
Last October, Xpeng Aeroht began construction of its Guangzhou flying car manufacturing base, with a planned annual capacity of 10,000 units.
Earlier this month, Xpeng Aeroht said its application for a Production Certificate for the flying body of its modular flying car was accepted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
This marks the beginning of Xpeng Aeroht's mass-production system for flying car products being reviewed by aviation authorities, it said.
($1 = RMB 7.204)
