Australia’s airspace is about to get a lot more crowded, with drone deliveries expanding and car maker Xpeng about to demonstrate the kind of flying car that is expected to start operating for real in the next few years.
One of the new breed of Chinese car makers making inroads into Australia, Xpeng is using a public demonstration of its X2 flying car – a type of vehicle officially known as an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) vehicle – to draw attention to the range of electric vehicles (EVs) it will launch in Australia at the upcoming Electric SUV Expo in Melbourne.
It’s the first time Australian audiences will be able to see the AeroHT Xpeng X2, which it built in partnership with EV innovator AeroHT, demonstrated at Stockholm’s ECar Expo in April 2022, and flew in public for the first time in Dubai in October 2022.
Regulatory complexities mean the X2 won’t be flying around Melbourne’s CBD this time around, but visitors to the show “will be able to put [their] fingerprints on it,” Jason Clarke, CEO of local Xpeng distributor TrueEV, told Information Age.
“People will be able to walk around it, get a feel for the dimension, the weight, and the quality of the fit,” he explained, adding that while local availability of the X2 hasn’t yet been determined, he envisions it will initially “quite an efficient way of getting around where cars are too slow and helicopters make too much noise.”
A mass-market version is expected in 2025, and while Australian regulations are still evolving the vision is that you’d be able to hop into an autonomous air taxi, take to the air for a joy flight around Port Phillip Bay at speeds of up to 130km/h – just shy of 88 mph – before being dropped off in your back yard.
Assuming, that is, that you don’t live too far away: the X2’s electric motors can currently only keep it aloft for 35 minutes, providing a maximum range of around 75km.
“Xpeng are looking at what’s required” to sell the X2 commercially in Australia, Clarke said, noting that initial interest is likely to be from the likes of emergency services, fleet operators, and airport shuttle operators.
“The reality of trying to get it registered in urban Australian areas will be a long time coming,” he said.
“But it is real, and it is of relevance.”
Countdown to launch
Years after Uber’s failure to launch eVTOLs – the company announced in 2019 that it would be flying taxis in Melbourne by 2023, but sabotaged those plans after selling its Elevate flying taxi division – Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has closely tracked the development of eVTOLs and advanced drones, with a rural aerodrome established in 2020 to host eVTOL firms such as anchor tenant AMSL Aero.
By the time the $200,000 X2 is commercially available, it will join an eVTOL market that includes Australian innovators such as flying racing car maker Alauda Aeronautics and electric aero ambulance developer AMSL Aero, which has already secured commercial orders for its Vertiia eVTOL – which completed its maiden flight last year and is expected to be flying cargo by 2026 and regional passengers by 2027.
While Vertiia’s conventional batteries max out at around 200km of range, a developing hydrogen engine is soon expected to increase this to 1000km – making the vehicle a viable, zero-emissions option for rapid transport between Australian cities and regional hubs.
And in April, Australian drone maker Sphere Drones gained beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) approval at a test site near Wagga Wagga – allowing it to test long-range drones capable of carrying goods.
Uber rival Wisk recently partnered with the South East Queensland regional Council of Mayors to bring its autonomous air taxis to that region, while airplane maker Embraer wants to put 100 eVTOLs into the skies above Melbourne, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, and Tokyo by 2026.
Such services will mirror plans by United Airlines to deliver metropolitan eVTOL shuttles in the US, and Joby’s planned 2026 launch after Dubai authorities approved commercial services using its eVTOL, which flies up to 240km at 320km/h.
No more cold chips
CASA is onboard, working with state authorities to stay ahead of industry developments and establish sector regulations including a new guide to the design of vertiports, from which flying cars and commercial drones will soon load and unload passengers.
In the more immediate term, however, you can expect to see more aerial action in Australia’s skies as drone delivery operators ramp up their presence after years of successful trials.
A newly minted expansion of the partnership between food delivery firm DoorDash and drone operator Wing, for example, will bring drone deliveries of food and other products to around 250,000 residents near the company’s first ‘Nest’ drone launching pad, at Eastland Shopping Centre in Ringwood.
That’s the largest approved delivery area in Australia to date, with a single human pilot at the Nest approved to oversee up to 50 flying drones each carrying up to 1kg of cargo at up to 110km/h.
That’s three times as many simultaneous drones as were previously permissible thanks to five years of successful pilot testing that, Wing said, confirm “the safety of our aircraft, our system, and our operations.”
