The first flying car in Australia is currently “for sale.”

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, Xpeng, has announced that it has opened the orders for its X2 electric vertical take-off and landing flying car in Australia. Designed for city air travel, this electric flying vehicle weighs approximately 360 kilograms (empty, eVTOL).

As it is claimed, this vehicle has a duration of flight of about thirty minutes or a distance of 75 km, also providing eight rotors and motors enclosed in a two-seater aircraft with a maximum speed of 130 km/h. Provision of a parachute of military quality is included as a safety measure incase of failures.

CEO of TrueEV, Australia’s Xpeng importer and distributor, Jason Clarke, states that the Xpeng X2 price is near $200,000. Advertising of the Xpeng aircraft is done as “low-altitude air mobility explorer” by FlyOne, Xpeng’s service and delivery partner in Australia. Nevertheless, the X2 will most probably be involved in bureaucratic processes for an extended period before it can be flown.

Not only is a car driving license required to be able to operate the X2 in Australia but also a private pilot’s license is a must. The potential users in Australia have been passive by mostly farmers who can afford almost five times the X2 price to just get an engine to replace the one in their helicopter. It has also been reported that the Sydney EV show displayed the X2 fifth generation model from Xpeng. This will be succeeded in due time by enhanced versions where the range is expected to almost double that of the current model to flying one hour.

X2 has a flight ceiling of just 500m and thus presented as an eco-friendly urban commute which can be used for tourism, medical cases and supplies, out of reach goods delivery, and even stealing farm animals. Srikanth Boliday Limelight gained potential eVTOL taxis business over Uber Air, which was sold to Joby Aviation at the end of December 2020.

Last year, Canberra-based Pegasus Aerospace Corp, was conferred with airworthiness certification by CASA in respect of its drivable flying police car called Pegasus E and Morgan Stanley forecast the value of the global flying car market will reach US$1 trillion by 2040.

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