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According to the "Shanghai Low-Altitude Economy High Quality Development Plan (2024—2027)," Shanghai will develop into a highland of low-altitude economy industry innovation, its commercial application highland and operation service highland. By 2027 its low-altitude economy industrial scale will achieve 50 billion yuan and the city will become part of the Yangtze River Delta inter-provincial low-altitude air traffic city league.
To achieve this, control of flight cost is judged essential.
The eVTOL, relying on low cost, minimum noise and comfortable interior design, offers a possible solution. The vehicle requires only a 100—200 square-meter clearing on top of a building and a charging pile to achieve take-off and landing.
"A vectored thrust eVTOL is more likely to be widely applicable," said Huang Yongwei, founder of Shanghai TCab Technology Co, the first vectored thrust eVTOL research and development company nationwide.
"And only a vectored thrust eVTOL can offer a price at 3—4 yuan per kilometers that is mostly equivalent to a ground taxis," Huang added.
Currently eVTOLs can be categorized as multi-rotor, lift and cruise, and vectored thrust.
The vectored thrust, considered the next generation of eVTOLs, relies on a rotary rotor to achieve take-off and landing, while reducing aerodynamic drag during level flight, as well as the entire weight of the vehicle. Its research also poses the highest difficulties.
"People said the low-altitude economy is at its embryo stage and you are developing the most difficult eVTOL," Huang said.
The company said it once tried the lift and cruise eVTOL, a vehicle type requiring less research effort, but its weighty electromotors can reduce speed and forecast a higher ticket price.
Globally there are six eVTOL listed companies and among them Joby, Archer and Vertical are developing rotary rotor eVTOLs. Domestically, universities with top research capacities in the field —— Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beihang University and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics are choosing vectored thrust as the technology to be tackled.
E20“合法”上天会在2027年左右实现，预计2026年底或2027年初取得型号合格证并完成适航认证。到那时，老百姓就能以实惠的价格乘坐了。从上海浦东新国际博览中心到苏州“东方之门”，单程100公里用时约25分钟，票价每人约300元，和出租车价格相同，但速度快得多。
近日，上海发布的《上海市低空经济产业高质量发展行动方案（2024—2027年）》指出，到2027年，上海要打造低空经济三大高地，产业规模超过500亿元，并计划联合长三角城市建设全国首批低空省际通航城市。
要实现这一目标，低空飞行的成本是亟待解决的问题。
被视为未来“空中出租车”的是一种能够垂直起降的飞行器“eVTOL”，纯电驱动的它，价格亲民许多，而且噪音小，乘坐起来更舒适。同时，停车场楼顶、商场楼顶或高铁站对面的空地，只需要100—200平方米的空地再加装一个充电桩就能成为一个起降点……有了它，上海才有可能实现经济实惠的省际空中交通出行。
“只有倾转旋翼构型的eVTOL，才能真正解决空中出租车的需求。”四年前，黄雍威来到闵行，创办了全中国第一家倾转旋翼构型的研发公司——时的科技。
他的理由很简单：作为“出租车”，人们要的是价格便宜、速度更快，只有采用倾转旋翼构型才能真正做到人均3—4元每公里的票价，和出租车相近。
倾转旋翼是eVTOL的三种主流构型之一，它集另外两种构型的优点于一身，这种构型足够轻盈，速度够快，成本够低，因此乘坐费用够低，但最大的缺点是研发难度稍大。因此，在公司成立之初，很多人都不看好这个选择。
“当时大家都说，低空都没有开放，你们还做最难研发的倾转旋翼，怎么可能做成？”黄雍威曾研发过另一种主流构型“复合翼”的eVTOL，这种构型研发难度较小，但有一个硬伤——飞机需要更多电机，巡航过程中自重大，换句话说，就是飞不快、票价高。
海外技术趋同已经显现，目前全球共有6家eVTOL上市公司，如Joby、Archer、Vertical等，大多都使用倾转构型。国内的航空高校，也做出了相同的选择——西北工业大学孵化的“华羽先翔”、北京航空航天大学孵化的“倍飞智能”、南京航空航天大学孵化的“零重力飞机工业”都选择了倾转旋翼进行研发。
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