- Xpeng AeroHT will bring its Land Aircraft Carrier to CES 2025.
- The modular vehicle combines an extended-range electric minivan and a large electric drone.
- It’s two separate vehicles bundled together: the “mothership” and the eVTOL.
These days, buyers all over the world have more and better choices for going electric. But one thing has been sorely missing until now: a six-wheeled EV minivan that can also launch its own people-carrying electric drone aircraft.
Finally, Xpeng AeroHT, an affiliate of Chinese electric car maker Xpeng, is giving the people what they want.
Photo by: Xpeng
Xpeng AeroHT Land Aircraft Carrier
Xpeng AeroHT will bring its modular flying car concept to the United States. Dubbed the Land Aircraft Carrier, it’s essentially a six-wheeled minivan that houses a separate foldable drone in the back. The modular vehicle will appear at the CES tech trade show in Las Vegas in January. It’s a pretty big deal, and it shows that the Chinese company is serious about its flying vehicle efforts.
Will it ever be sold stateside? We don’t know, but it’s a strong indication that Xpeng AeroHT, which claims it’s the largest flying car company in Asia, is thinking about it. But what is this Land Aircraft Carrier thing, anyway?
For starters, it’s not exactly what futurists envisioned flying cars would look like–as in, a car that you can also use as a flying vehicle. Instead, it’s two separate vehicles bundled together. The base, called the Mothership, is a six-wheeled extended-range minivan. It has a combustion engine at the front which sends power to the car’s battery and electric motors. It can also recharge the batteries of the people-carrying drone that sits in the back.
Photo by: Xpeng
The flying part of Xpeng’s modular concept seats two and can be deployed at the push of a button. The rotor arms need to be extended after it has been taken out of the van, but after that, the pilot can fly the thing either from inside or outside, using a remote control.
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Xpeng
Xpeng AeroHT claims the six-rotor electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can be flown with a single hand thanks to its innovative single-lever control system, and that it takes just five minutes to learn how to fly–and three hours to master it.
The battery of the aircraft can supposedly be charged from 30% to 80% in 18 minutes. With a full battery, it supports five to six flights, but the company didn’t say how long these flights would last.
The first unmanned public flight of the six-rotor electric drone happened in China last month. Xpeng AeroHT said production and deliveries will start sometime in 2026, with a planned output of 10,000 units per year. The Land Aircraft Carrier will cost up to $280,000 (2 million yuan) in China, and the company claims it has already received over 2,000 pre-orders.
