Selling like hotcakes for 12.4 billion yuan, this unicorn in Shanghai has raised hundreds of millions more: Building electric airplanes
The vision of "flying by air" is getting closer and closer to us.
Recently, the low-altitude economy track has been a bit popular. Look, another electric aircraft unicorn has received hundreds of millions in financing - it's Volant Aero (headquartered in Shanghai), which specializes in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, abbreviated as eVTOL.
Some readers may immediately ask, didn't Pencil News report on an eVTOL company, Zero Gravity, a few days ago? It raised 300 million in its A+++ round. Now there's "Volant Aero". What's the difference between the two?
The difference is significant. eVTOLs have many uses, such as sightseeing tours, intercity passenger transportation, and pilot training. Volant Aero focuses on passenger transportation, commonly known as air buses - there are differences in technical routes and application scenarios.
Let me give you an example and you'll understand right away. Volant Aero has a main product called the VE25. It has a takeoff payload of about 2.5 tons and can carry 1 pilot and 5 passengers. Its passenger capacity is similar to that of a taxi, but it's faster, with a cruising speed of 235 km/h.
Judging from public information, these parameters are quite good globally - it has excellent load capacity and cabin space.
It is estimated that in the next five years, in first-tier cities across the country, eVTOLs may enter into small-scale (about 200 aircraft per year) commercial operations, including intercity passenger transportation, sightseeing tours, emergency rescue, etc. Entrepreneurs shouldn't miss these new opportunities.
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The founder of Volant Aero is Dong Ming, who graduated from Wuhan University of Technology and then worked at AVIC, participating in the R & D of projects such as the ARJ21, C919, and C929.
In October 2016, Uber officially proposed the "Air Taxi" (Uber Elevate) plan, and eVTOLs started to gain popularity worldwide.
At that time, Dong Ming was also deeply involved in the plan - he is a member of relevant working groups at NASA in the United States and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and participated in the formulation of the U.S. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) roadmap.
He saw that the conditions for the eVTOL industry in China were gradually maturing, so he resigned and started his own business.
In June 2021, Dong Ming founded Volant Aero. The following month, it received millions of dollars in financing. In September of that year, Volant Aero's 1:3 scale verification aircraft, Tiny, made its maiden flight.
The overall financing progress has been relatively fast. By 2024, Volant Aero had completed six rounds of financing, with a cumulative amount of about 1 billion yuan.
In January this year, Volant Aero started receiving orders. It signed the first batch of confirmed orders for the VE25 - 100 model eVTOL with China Southern General Aviation Co., Ltd. These are also the first batch of confirmed orders for high - level commercial passenger eVTOLs in China.
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Regarding air taxis, many scenarios have only been seen in movies. 2014 was the budding period of the industry, and most products were still in the laboratory. Technologically, the first to make a breakthrough were multi - rotor products, such as those of EHang.
But as we all know, ground taxis have standards, including legal standards, driving standards, road standards, etc. - and air taxis don't have these: no routes, no laws, no roads (airports). And carrying passengers is a matter of life and death. As a private enterprise, who would dare to take this risk?
Therefore, before 2024, air taxis mainly remained in the technical verification stage. Only a very small number of enterprises started commercial trial operations or compliant flights, such as EHang.
Technologically, besides the previously mentioned multi - rotor, there are also tilt - rotor and compound - wing technologies.
Most people are probably more familiar with multi - rotor products. It's like an enlarged version of a DJI drone, with four - rotor or six - rotor configurations. It controls its flight attitude through the rotation speeds of different rotors and can take off and land vertically and hover.
So, what is a tilt - rotor aircraft? Its engines and propellers can change angles and switch flight modes. When the engines and propellers are in a vertical state, it becomes a helicopter; when they tilt to a horizontal state, it becomes a fixed - wing aircraft.
What about a compound - wing aircraft? It's a bit like having several vertical propellers attached to a fixed - wing aircraft. It takes off using the propellers and then cruises with the fixed wing.
Among these three technical routes, in terms of the breadth of application, they can be ranked as follows: compound - wing, tilt - rotor, multi - rotor.
First is the compound - wing. Its range is usually between 150 - 300 kilometers. 42% of eVTOL manufacturers choose this route (SMG Consulting). It can be applied in scenarios such as intercity short - to medium - distance passenger transportation, regional logistics transportation, and medical transportation, and can handle the transportation of relatively large - volume cargo.
Next is the tilt - rotor. Its range is generally between 200 - 400 kilometers. 35% of manufacturers choose this route. It is mainly applied in scenarios that are time - sensitive or have special load requirements, such as intercity business travel and emergency rescue, and can also be used in military logistics.
Finally, the multi - rotor. Its typical endurance is about 50 - 100 kilometers, suitable for short - distance and low - load scenarios.
Advantages and disadvantages of the three technologies
Volant Aero, as reported in this article, uses a technical route that combines tilt - rotor and modular technologies.
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So, to what extent has the air taxi been applied so far? Low - altitude tourism is the top priority.
Let's first look at Volant Aero. Its products are mainly sold to Thai Pan - Pacific Co., Ltd., Agricultural Bank Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., China Southern General Aviation, Asia Jet Airlines, etc.
In July this year, Thai Pan - Pacific purchased 500 VE25 - 100 "Tianxing" eVTOL aircraft, with an order value of 1.75 billion US dollars (about 12.4 billion yuan). These aircraft will be used for short - distance inter - island and intra - island transportation services and emergency rescue in regions such as Thailand and the Maldives.
In August this year, Agricultural Bank Financial Leasing bought 110 aircraft (intention order), with a total value of about 3 billion yuan. Of course, leasing companies purchase these aircraft to sub - lease them out eventually.
This year, China Southern General Aviation, Asia Jet Airlines, Deer Jet, China General Aviation, and China Dragon Aviation also bought several batches of aircraft, mainly for six types of scenarios: low - altitude sightseeing, training, short - distance transportation, cargo transportation, emergency rescue, and urban travel.
Looking at global cases, the application scenarios are similar. The purchasers are mostly aviation travel companies, financial service companies (such as CITIC Financial Leasing and BOC Financial Leasing), and low - altitude tourism companies.
In China, eVTOLs are being applied in the tourism sector, but there aren't many tickets sold to the general public - this means that the commercialization of eVTOLs is not yet mature.
For example, in 2024, in the Bowen Hometown Scenic Area, Wencheng County and EHang launched the "Low - altitude Tour of Wencheng" activity. Currently, eVTOL flights have become regular, and about 200 people have experienced the low - altitude tour.
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Besides tourism, intercity travel is another mainstream application scenario for eVTOLs, but globally, commercialization is still in the "trial stage".
The flight radius of eVTOLs is about dozens of kilometers, and urban flight scenarios are one of the core scenarios.
Against the background of congested ground traffic, eVTOLs can create "air roads" and achieve point - to - point transportation. The flight routes are shorter, which can greatly improve transportation efficiency, effectively relieve ground traffic pressure, and expand urban transportation capacity.
On August 13th this year, in California, USA, Joby Aviation achieved the first manned eVTOL flight between two public airports, flying from Marina Municipal Airport in California to Monterey Regional Airport. The flight distance was over 20 kilometers, and the flight time was 12 minutes, including 5 minutes of waiting in the air. The estimated pilot - stage ticket price is about 200 US dollars (one - way).
In addition, emergency rescue is also a mainstream application for eVTOLs, and it is currently in the trial - operation stage.
eVTOLs can quickly reach disaster - stricken areas, obtain and transmit information, shorten the response time for rescue operations, and can replace personnel in approaching dangerous environments such as fires, earthquakes, and chemical spills, playing a key role in special scenarios such as high - rise fire rescue.
In terms of medical rescue, eVTOLs can conveniently, efficiently, timely, and accurately transport and deliver medical supplies, significantly reducing the time for transporting and rescuing patients.
Since 2024, Fuqun Aviation, a small - and - medium - sized eVTOL brand under Yufeng Future, has won several projects such as the "Guangdong Provincial Aviation Emergency (Large - and - Medium - Sized Drone Rescue Platform)". In the second quarter of 2024, the cumulative contract value exceeded 100 million yuan.
On June 24th, 2025, the 2 - ton - class eVTOL fire - fighting version of Fengfei Aviation's Kairuiou participated in the "Emergency Mission・2025" exercise. It took off vertically from the Jiagedaqi Fire Brigade and reached the test area 22 kilometers away in 8 minutes, successfully delivering fire - extinguishing bombs and parachute - dropped emergency supplies.
Porsche Management Consulting predicts that by 2030, the Chinese eVTOL market share will account for 25 - 30% of the global market, and the average annual demand for eVTOLs in China from 2025 - 2030 is expected to reach nearly 500 aircraft. That is, the total demand in five years will be about 2,500 aircraft.
Based on this figure, in five years, first - tier cities across the country will have an average of more than 200 eVTOLs in operation, gradually entering the lives of ordinary people.
This article does not constitute any investment advice.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Pencil News", author: Zhi Ba. Republished by 36Kr with permission.