Climb in and take off straight upwards: China is working on the flying car too. Wuhan-based E-Hawk has already flown a prototype. It looks like a futuristic cabin, with propellers in circular openings around its occupants.
This is the flying car from China’s E-Hawk, also known as Electric Eagle. The company is building an electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically. Wuhan’s development zone reported a successful test flight in January. It is a flying prototype, with carrying people still a future goal.
Eight fans around one cabin
E-Hawk uses eight so-called ducted fans: propellers surrounded by a casing. They are arranged at the aircraft’s four corners. In an interview on the Wuhan science and technology bureau’s website, the founder explains that the control system varies the speed of individual motors. This distributes thrust to let the aircraft hover and manoeuvre.
The casing shields the fast-spinning blades from the sides. That makes the design more compact than an aircraft with long rotor arms. It is an interesting choice for a machine eventually intended to take off from confined spaces. The airflow remains, of course: this flying car also has to push air downwards to stay aloft.
A substantial machine, even without protruding rotor arms
According to the development zone, the design is 5.6 metres long and 3.9 metres wide. Its stated maximum take-off mass is 1,200 kilograms, including its load. The same source lists a payload of up to 450 kilograms and flight time of more than twenty minutes. These are figures from the development programme, not a promise for a ride you can book today.
‘Flying car’ mainly describes the shape and the idea. This is an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, often shortened to eVTOL. It needs no runway, but it still requires suitable places to take off and land.
Cargo first, perhaps passengers later
According to E-Hawk’s own company introduction, it is taking a step-by-step approach: work applications first, then experiences, and eventually transport. The development zone lists cargo and rescue work as initial uses, following the necessary certification. Passenger transport remains a later step.
That makes this an interesting glimpse of a possible future. The cabin looks like something you could step into, while the way it flies is very different. Now the striking design has to grow into an aircraft that can work reliably beyond a demonstration.
