Geely and Volocopter form aircraft joint venture

Volocopter has teamed up with a subsidiary of Geely Holding for creating a joint venture in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in China on Wednesday.

Volocopter is a German company specializing in the manufacture of autonomous air vehicles.

The joint venture will take charge of the production and market operation of German company’s products in the Chinese market. It prepares to help promote urban air mobility (UAM) in China in three to five years.

Geely’s company, which was named Volocopter (Chengdu) Technology, or Volocopter Chengdu for short, has also signed orders with Volocopter for 150 aircraft, including logistics unmanned aerial vehicles and manned aircraft.

Air vehicles and their parts are set to be produced in Hubei Geely Terrafugia, a manufacturing base of Geely.

Volocopter Chengdu will also participate in the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China) on September 28.

“Today marks another significant milestone on our journey to bring affordable electric air mobility to China, the biggest single market opportunity for the UAM industry,” said Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter via video link.

UAM refers to a new mode of urban transportation that makes the use of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people or goods within lower urban and suburban airspaces. It helps relieve the strain on increasingly congested city roads and permits people and goods to reach their destinations faster and safer.

Volocopter is the world’s first and only eVTOL aircraft manufacturer at this moment. It has obtained design and production approval from European Union Aviation Safety Agency.