I have to admit that I could feel the piercing jealous stares of dozens of onlookers as I got inside the cockpit of a new modular flying car here at CES 2025.
I was sitting with Mr. Tan Wang, co-founder and vice President of Xpeng, a China-based company that claims to be the world leader in flying cars. The company was showing off The Land Aircraft Carrier, which is a monster-size electric SUV that just so happens to have an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) Air Module that can fold out from the back and take off. Yeah, this blows away the Cybertruck.
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With over 3,000 intent orders already received, Xpeng says this is going to be the first mass-produced modular ‘flying car’, with deliveries planned for 2026. The price? Under $300,000, which seems reasonable for what feels like a Transformer from the future.
Inside the Air Module
As I spoke with Wang, he explained that there’s three target audiences for the Land Aircraft Carrier. The first is existing pilots and flying enthusiasts. The second are high-tech early adopters that might otherwise buy the highest end Tesla. And the third group is people who just love enjoying the outdoors.
That last bit is important, because the Air Module inside the Land Aircraft Carrier isn’t designed for commuting. It’s really meant for exploring remote areas, such as where you might go camping. So, instead of flying up a drone to take a look around and take in the sights, you might fly up yourself.
Inside the cockpit of the eVTOL air module, Wang showed me how the controls might operate with a joystick in the center console along with a giant touchscreen. Ideally, you would just tap on the touchscreen and the eVTOL would just take care of the rest. But you could use the stick to navigate.
The Air Module has a 270-degree panoramic view, and it’s powered by a 800-volt silicon carbide high-voltage platform. Xpeng says it has already performed thousands of test flights across 200 units.
Land Aircraft Carrier
The Aircraft Carrier itself if a 6-wheel beast with an aggressive angular design inspired by a lunar rover with some pretty cool tech features — other than having a flying vehicle in the back. Instead of regular sideview mirrors, there are cameras that pop out on each side. And there’s a transparent privacy window on the side where you can see out and other people can’t see in.
Xpeng boasts that the Land Aircraft Carrier has the world's first onboard autonomous separation and reconnection system. This enables the air module to be housed within the trunk. This mothership lives up to its name.
So how long would the fun last? Xpeng’s VP told me that you should be able to get up to 2 hours on a charge and the flying vehicle has a max speed of 90km/hour (~55 mph). Don’t worry, the Land Aircraft Carrier has enough juice for up to 6 recharges.
Of course, this modular flying car is not coming to the U.S. anytime soon, but it’s cool to know that it’s set for mass production. And I can say that I stepped into a Transformer at CES.
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