Reporter of China's ** newspaper Wenxi flying car is still regarded as a "science fiction" concept? At CES2024 (International Consumer Electronics Show) held in Las Vegas, USA, flying car projects invested by a number of car companies have released a strong signal of mass production and commercialization. Among them, Hyundai Motor launched its first electric flying taxi S-A2 at the exhibition, which plans to apply for a US airworthiness certificate in the middle of this year; The domestic manufacturer Xiaopeng Huitian also announced at the exhibition that its split flying car will be available for pre-order in the fourth quarter of this year, and mass production and delivery will begin in the fourth quarter of next year. Concepts such as EVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) may seem cutting-edge, but in fact, the technologies and industrial chains it relies on have gradually matured with the development of products such as electric vehicles. In the view of many institutions, the commercialization of the first phase of eVTOL is approaching. Mass production and commercial use are approachingAt CES2024, which will be held from January 9 to January 12 local time, Supernal, an urban air travel company under Hyundai Motor, unveiled its first electric flying taxi, the S-A2. It is understood that the S-A2 is a V-tail electric flying car that can reach 1500 feet (about 457.).2 meters) at an altitude of 120 miles per hour (about 193.).12 km) can provide 25-40 miles (about 64.)37 km). 
According to Hyundai, Supernal plans to begin initial test flights of its electric air ** car rental by the end of the year. To this end, Hyundai Motor will apply for a U.S. airworthiness certificate in mid-2024; It also plans to launch a full-fledged commercial service in 2028 after meeting the testing requirements. At the same time, on the morning of January 10, Beijing time, the Xpeng Hui sky, land and air integrated flying car invested by Xpeng Motors was also unveiled at CES2024, which is the first international public appearance of the product since its release in October last year. Wang Tan, co-founder and vice president of Xpeng Huitian, also announced that the company's other split flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" will open reservations in the fourth quarter of this year, and plans to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of next year. If it is successfully realized, it means that the "land aircraft carrier" will become the world's first split flying car for mass production and delivery for individual users. 
The mass production of flying car products has also stimulated the related concept stocks in the A-share secondary market. On the morning of January 10, Koyo shares rose in a straight line, and Xingyuan Zhuomei, Shangluo Electronics, CITIC Haizhi and others followed suit. 
Frequently appears in the public eyeAs an innovative mode of travel, evtol is considered to be the mainstream direction of flying cars, which is subversive and has a large market space. According to Morgan Stanley**, the global urban air mobility market could reach the trillion-dollar level by 2040. In fact, eVTOL is also known as low-altitude travel, in-vehicle flight, UAM (Urban Air Mobility), etc. It is innovative in form and different from traditional aircraft, ** and drones. In addition, the threshold for the use of evtol is low. It is understood that for example, the products of Opener, an evtol aircraft innovation company invested by Google founder Larry Page, do not require a driver's license, and customers only need to receive a few hours of training to fly on their own. In addition, the Opener aims to make it ** comparable to SUV models, and the power consumption per kilometer can be compared to models such as the Tesla Model S. In 2023, flying cars will begin to appear frequently in the public eye. In July of that year, the above-mentioned Google company Opener released its first customer flight**, and its main product BlackFly has now entered the stage of small-scale production. In August of that year, Alef Aeronautics, a flying car company invested by Musk's SpaceX, said it had received 2,500 pre-orders (2,100 from individuals and 400 from enterprises), and its Model A flying car had previously been legally licensed to fly. On the domestic side, in addition to Xpeng Huitian, Geely is also a player of EVTOL. In July 2023, Geely Technology Group's Wofei Changkong received the first order for 100 evtol business aviation aircraft in the Adeltai region. In addition, on July 19 of that year, the news that CATL, COMAC and other commercial companies cooperated to establish an airline attracted widespread attention in the industry. The joint venture company, called COMAC Times (Shanghai) Aviation, is engaged in the design and production of civil aircraft parts, the production of civil aircraft engines, propeller production, motor manufacturing, and battery sales. This is also speculated by the outside world as a possible cooperation into the field of EVOTL, the mainstream product of the current electric flying car. In addition to these automobile and power battery manufacturers, there are also a number of innovative companies in China, including EHang and Shanghai EVTOL Five Dragons (Fengfei, Shi, Yufeng Future, Volant, and Pantuo) have also entered the flying car track. Policies often give the green lightIt is worth noting that in terms of policy, China has recently frequently lit the green light for low-altitude aircraft. In October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments jointly issued the "Green Aviation Manufacturing Industry Development Outline (2023-2035)", which put forward a clear time plan for EVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) and flying cars: by 2025, pilot operation will be realized, and by 2035, a green aviation manufacturing system with integrity, advancement and safety will be built, and new energy aircraft will become the mainstream of development. Various localities have successively introduced measures to promote the commercial implementation of EVTOLs and flying cars. A few days ago, seven departments of Shenzhen jointly issued the "Several Measures of Shenzhen to Support the High-quality Development of Low-altitude Economy". The "Measures" propose to accelerate the industrialization of low-altitude aircraft such as manned EVTOL. A certain proportion of sales incentives will be given to low-altitude economic enterprises that develop manned evtols and flying cars and realize sales that are actually engaged in relevant business activities in Shenzhen. In addition, the "Action Plan for Shanghai to Build a Future Industrial Innovation Highland and Develop and Expand Future Industrial Clusters" proposes to "break through technologies such as tiltrotors, composite wings, and intelligent flights, develop manned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and explore new modes of air transportation". The Guangzhou Development Zone (Huangpu District) has also introduced special support policies to promote the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy. According to incomplete statistics, this year, 16 provinces will write low-altitude economy, general aviation and other related content into the first work report. The industrial chain is gradually maturingWhy has the pace of commercial use of evtol and flying car products accelerated significantly in recent years? In the eyes of the industry, its concept seems to be cutting-edge, but in fact, it relies on batteries, motors, intelligent driving and other technologies and industrial chains have gradually matured with the development of electric vehicles and other products. In its 2021 update report, Morgan Stanley believes that the maturity of battery fast charging technology is low, intelligent driving and information security need to be further improved, and the maturity of communications, motors, and advanced manufacturing is good. In a research report, Bank of China** also analyzed the EVTOL industry chain, which mainly covers six aspects, including batteries, power systems, cost control systems, communications, high-precision inertial navigation (similar to MEMS sensors) and the body. The agency believes that there are still many links in the core area of evtol that need further breakthroughs, but the overall progress is relatively optimistic due to the acceleration of the technical level of intelligent driving, high-density batteries and other technologies in recent years. In other words, the optimistic results that have been achieved in various fields in recent years, including batteries, are complementing the eVTOL industry chain. From the perspective of the industry, under the premise that the existing technical route is relatively clear, the follow-up R&D work has begun to enter the engineering iteration cycle, that is, the maturity is expected to be improved according to the linear rhythm of the timeline, and also create conditions for the commercial use of eToL. Taking batteries as an example, an insider of CATL previously told reporters that the company has launched condensed matter batteries with an energy density of 500wh kg. "In the future, this product will not be used in conventional electric vehicles, but will also be equipped with flying equipment. The person should have revealed.
Edit: Captain's Review: Muyu.