EHang Deliveries Increase But No AOC For Customers EHang's EH216-S autonomous 2 passenger eVTOL is been delivering at high rates since being certified in October 2023. In a financial briefing on November 18 the Chinese company suggested it delivered 63 units in the three months ending on September 30. This represented a 29% increase on output for the second quarter. This is good news however, no Air Operator Certificates have been granted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for operations of these craft despite the surge in deliveries.
We have seen many public flights of the EHang EH216 however, these were permitted under special licenses. Air Taxi services are ramping up for anticipated service entry in many Chinese cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Zhuhai, Hefei and Wencheng. There is a growing export market for the craft as well with export markets from Japan, UAE, Brazil and Thailand.
In 18 countries across Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe EHang has conducted more than 56,000 flights. "Our progress towards obtaining an operating certificate for pilotless, passenger-carrying aircraft is on track, marking a global first that will indicate readiness for full-scale operations," said Huazhi Hu, EHang’s founder, chairman, and CEO. "We are also actively assisting [Chinese] customers and partners across multiple regions to expedite their operating certificate applications, accelerating the nationwide commercialization of the EH216-S."
Orders still are coming in for the eVTOL with the most recent publicized order coming from the Zhejiang Sunriver Culture and Tourism. They have committed to buying 50 EH216-S aircraft and these will be incorporated for Cultural Tourism flights. EHang is also currently testing the use of Solid State batteries in its aircraft citing that lithium ion batteries only permit 22 miles (35 kilometers) of flight currently. They suggested that one of its aircraft flew constantly for 48 minutes and 10 minutes on solid state battery power but did not comment on how much more range has been boosted via the new batteries. For more information: EHang Building C, Yixiang Technology Park, No.72 Nanxiang Second Road, Huangpu District, Guangzhou, 510700, People’s Republic of China www.ehang.com ***
