Edging ahead in the race to reduce vehicle charging times, a Chinese partnership is set to build the world’s first ultra-fast charging systems for electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
EHang Holdings Limited, an established and certificated eVTOL manufacturer based in China’s leading industrial and commercial region Guangzhou, has partnered with Guangzhou Greater Bay Technology (GBT), a technology firm which leads the field in the development of constant-power high-rate batteries for the mass market.
Power systems
The duo will be working to industrialize components and modules for eVTOL power systems, with a view to “significantly reduce charging times and lay a strong foundation for cost-effective, large-scale, and efficient commercial operations in the low-altitude economy,” EHang announced on LinkedIn.
Those components and modules will include power cells, batteries, packs, charging piles, and energy storage systems, according to Interesting Engineering. These must all reach China’s Civil Aviation Administration’s exacting 4H standards on safety, as well as on energy density, cycle life (or the number of times a battery can charge and discharge at optimum performance), and on instantaneous charge-discharge rate.
Not only that, but the partnership will begin putting into place the fast-charging piles, stations, and other infrastructure needed ahead of widespread commercialization.
Reducing charging times from 2 hours to just 10 minutes
EHang’s two-seater EH216-S air taxi, approved in 2023, currently charges in two hours for a 30-kilometre (18.6-mile) range. It is the world’s first unpiloted eVTOL, or unmanned aerial vehicle for passenger transport to be awarded all its necessary certificates.
With that achievement in the pocket, there is no reason to believe then that the firm’s new collaboration with GBT cannot achieve its aim of acting as a vanguard, driving forward research and development in the eVTOL industry. The companies will initially be focused on achieving a ten-minute or less charging time to go from 30 percent to 80 percent, with a battery energy density over 200 Wh/kg, and a 2,000-cycle lifespan.
Guangzhou
A major hub in China’s Belt and Road Initiative to develop trade, telecommunications, technology and infrastructure along the ancient maritime and overland Silk Roads, Guangzhou is an important port on the Pearl River. It has seen waves of investment in tech and manufacturing as it heads towards a 2030 target to become a world leader in artificial intelligence and digital innovation. That includes a 99-square-kilometre “science city” which will join other such hubs to create what is being dubbed as China’s Silicon Valley, but is known more officially as a “Science and Technology Innovation Corridor” (STIC).
