The Chinese air mobility company EHang has partnered with an Italian architecture firm Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG), to extend its air mobility solutions in the European Union market.
EHang is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing flying taxi capable of carrying one or two passengers to their destination. The company has sent 40 functioning air taxis to customers for testing, training, and demonstration.
As a part of the partnership, the Italian architecture firm has designed and will build an eco-sustainable vertiport in Italy. It will use green design and construction materials and can generate energy to recharge the EH216 passenger-grade AAVs. Inspired by the native African tree Baobab, the eco-sustainable vertiport will be a 30-meter-high tower, with a steel and laminated wood structure, a waiting room, a café, a 200-square-meter panoramic restaurant, and connecting lift.
The take-off-and-landing platform will be set on the roof terrace. The Baobab vertiport is built with non-slip photovoltaic panels that can generate over 300 KW of electric power per day. Some of this electricity will be transferred to three independent plug-and-play charging stations for use by the two-passenger EH216 eVTOLs landing on the roof.
With the Baobab vertiport, EHang and GZDG aim to enter the emerging global eco-tourism sector, with multiple projects being planned in Europe and Southeast Asia.
