The largest single financing! Is "flying car" a tuyere or Bubble?

On October 19th, Xiaopeng Automobile Ecological Enterprise Xiaopeng Huitian announced the completion of round A financing of more than US $500m, with a pre-investment valuation of more than US $1 billion. It is reported that this round of financing is led by IDG Capital, Wuyuan Capital and Xiaopeng Automobile, followed by Sequoia Capital China, Zhong Ding Capital, GGV GGV Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital, Yunfeng Fund and other well-known institutions.

Public data show that this is by far the largest single financing received by a company in the field of low-altitude manned aircraft in Asia, which also reflects the optimism of the capital market on the direction of the flying car industry.

A reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily learned from Xiaopeng that after the financing is completed, Xiaopeng Huitian will further increase its investment in the research and manufacture of flying cars, the reserve of high-end talents, and airworthiness forensics. The next generation of flying cars will really realize the coupling of aircraft and cars, be able to run on land and fly in the air, and is expected to be officially launched in 2024.

Emerging enterprises and traditional car companies are laying out one after another.

According to incomplete statistics, at present, more than 300 enterprises in the world have devoted themselves to the research and development of eVTOL (vertical take-off and landing aircraft) aircraft. At present, there are not only aviation giants such as Airbus and Boeing, but also automobile and Internet companies such as Geely, Toyota, Xiaopeng, Tencent and so on.

Matrix Partners research said that at present, most of the eVTOL products being developed in the market can carry 2-5 passengers, use distributed electric propulsion, and have multiple rotors. In the flight range of existing projects, most of them are in the range of 30-300 km and the speed is 112-320 km / h.

Enterprise check data show that, compared with domestic, foreign flying car projects started earlier: represented by Joby Aviations, SkyDrive, Kitty Hawk, Zee.Aero and other projects, and the amount of financing is higher. So far, Joby Aviations has received four financing times, with a total financing amount of more than 5.2 billion yuan.

Among them, many traditional car companies have also accelerated the pace of the layout of eVTOL.

Oriental Securities Research said that in recent years, Geely, Toyota, Xiaopeng, Hyundai, Chrysler and other car companies have mergers and acquisitions layout, have launched their own prototypes. Among them, in June 2020, Geely released Geely TF-2A, to achieve the 180km/h flight speed, the maximum mileage of 100km.

Some industry insiders told Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that the competitive advantage of eVTOL is becoming more and more prominent. "this aircraft is powered by electricity, does not rely on the airport runway, can take off and land without taxiing power, has both the flexibility of a helicopter and the high efficiency of fixed wings, and can be used in passenger transport, freight, emergency and other scenarios." The industry insiders said.

Take Xiaopeng's flying car Voyager X2 as an example, the product has a flight duration of 35 minutes, a maximum flight speed of 130 km / h, and has the ability to plan its own flight path. From the power point of view, it adopts 8 sets of independent batteries and 4-axis 8-propeller layout, which can achieve redundant power supply and vertical take-off and landing.

In addition, Oriental Securities research shows that Yihang has also become one of the few eVTOL companies in the world to achieve mass production and sales.

According to the prediction of Morgan Stanley, the global urban air traffic market (Urban Air Mobility) market will reach 1 trillion US dollars in 2040. According to Matrix Partners's analysis, shared travel, freight and short-haul airlines are the three main markets.

Why are flying cars favored by capital?

At present, eVTOL is gradually being favored by more capital.

In addition to Xiaopeng Huitian, in September this year, Shanghai Fengfei Aviation Technology Co., Ltd., a research and manufacturing company for self-pilot aircraft, announced the completion of round A financing of US $100 million. It is reported that the round of financing funds will be used for manned eVTOL aircraft research and development and manufacturing, high-end talent reserve, airworthiness forensics investment and expand market application and so on.

In the same month, Shanghai time Technology Co., Ltd., which specializes in urban air travel, announced that it had completed two consecutive rounds of financing in a month, totaling tens of millions of dollars. Among them, Lanchi Venture Capital is its seed wheel investment institution, and Dexun Investment is its seed + round investment institution.

In May this year, Border Intelligence, a technology company that provides autonomous flight systems for eVTOL, announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan of angel round financing, invested by the Sequoia seed Fund and the small and medium-sized Enterprise Development Fund managed by Oriental Fuhai (Shenzhen Nanshan Co., Ltd.). It is reported that the funding for this round of financing will be used to expand the R & D team and develop the first generation flight control system and visual perception system at the same time.

In the view of Cui Guangfu, partner of IDG Capital, "with the increasing number and density of super cities, congested short-distance transportation reduces the operational efficiency of the city." The emergence of flying cars hit the pain point, it not only extends the mode of travel in the city to a new space, but also brings efficiency optimization and great imagination. "

In its report "Urban Air Traffic-the rise of a New Mode of Transportation" released in November 2018, Roland Berger predicted that 3000 flying vehicles would be put into use by 2025, after which the number would grow exponentially.

By 2050, nearly 100000 flying vehicles will be used as air taxis, airport buses and intercity flights worldwide, and flying vehicles will become an important part of urban mobile products in the next 30 years.

What is the prospect of the flying car market?

Oriental Securities Research said that the commercialization of eVTOL goes through seven stages: design, announcement, verification testing, full-scale testing, manned testing, production, and commercial promotion.

"at present, there is still a certain distance to realize the commercialization of flying cars." Zhang Xiang, an expert at the Whale platform think tank and a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of the Northern University of Technology, told Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that "in the short term, this product is relatively difficult to commercialize, let alone replace cars on a large scale. Its market prospect is limited at present."

This is mainly due to the fact that flying cars are facing a lot of unsolved problems.

Matrix Partners said that the core drivers for the development of, eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft include: technology (unmanned flight, 5G, batteries); regulation, consumer acceptance; capital investment; existing urban congestion; national security.

But at the same time, many people in the industry told Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that "flying cars are a trillion-dollar market."

"Urban air travel is a trillion-dollar market, while China is in its infancy." So said Huang Yongwei, founder and CEO of technology at that time.

In addition, Cui Guangfu, partner of IDG Capital, told Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily: "Flying cars will be a trillion-dollar market. With the rapid development of battery technology, self-driving technology and material science, human beings have the opportunity to break through engineering barriers through combined innovation on flying cars."