ChinaAutoInfo

On January 1st, according to Southeast University, the country's first distributed electric drive flying car 'Dongda・Kunpeng 1', independently developed by the university's research team, was unveiled. This technology originates from the Department of Vehicle Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiangsu Province's Intelligent Electric Vehicle Engineering Research Center.

It is reported that 'Dongda・Kunpeng 1' is the country's first flying car with all-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, and a four-axis octocopter configuration, also being the first land-air integrated flying car in Jiangsu Province.

Traditional electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles focus primarily on vertical take-off and landing aviation vehicles and do not have ground mobility capabilities. In contrast, 'Dongda・Kunpeng 1' is a land-air integrated model, combining the rapid ground mobility of land transport equipment with the flexible air mobility of air transport equipment.

The 'Dongda・Kunpeng 1' flying car has an overall size of 2.1×1.2×1.5m, a maximum takeoff weight of 500kg, a flight endurance time of ≥20min, and a maximum flight altitude of ≥300m. The ground movement mode is based on a distributed electric drive system with four wheel hubs, dual Ackermann steering at the front and rear, electro-hydraulic composite braking, and a top speed of 60km/h.

Currently, 'Dongda・Kunpeng 1' relies mainly on high-power power batteries for endurance. The team has also developed a range-extending aviation electric propulsion system, which is expected to break through a flight endurance time of 2 hours and will be applied to the next generation of land-air integrated flying cars.