China’s GAC has started taking pre-orders for its electric vertical take-off and I Am a Plaything (2025)landing (eVTOLs) air taxi, the GOVY AirCab, at a price tag of RMB 1.68 million ($234,000). The vehicle made its debut at this year’s International Automotive and Supply Chain Expo (Hong Kong) on Thursday. Scheduled for delivery at the end of 2026, the unmanned, multi-rotor aircraft is 90% made of carbon fibre and can be fully charged within 25 minutes. A pilot service using the air taxis is set to begin later this year in the country’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. GAC is not the only Chinese automaker ramping up efforts to make its own eVTOLs, as Beijing looks to boost the development of the country’s so-called “low-altitude economy” where electric aircraft could be widely used for passenger transport in low-altitude airspace. Also at the IASC Expo, Changan Automobile, another state-owned automaker, announced it will complete the first test flight of its flying vehicle by the end of this year. [TechNode reporting, GAC release, in Chinese]
