EHang Holdings Limited, a leading autonomous aerial vehicle technology platform company, announced a partnership with an Italian architecture firm Giancarlo Zema Design Group to extend its air mobility solutions in the EU. With EHang’s passenger-grade AAV technologies and air mobility solutions, Giancarlo Zema Design Group has designed and will build an eco-sustainable vertiport in Italy. The vertiport will use green design and construction materials, and can generate energy to recharge the EH216 passenger-grade AAVs. Vertiports will play a significant role in the Urban Air Mobility market and the new era of flight. When integrated into the existing transportation infrastructure, vertiports can serve as aerial hubs for tourists. For further information see the IDTechEx report on Air Taxis: Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft 2021-2041. Inspired by the native African tree Baobab, Giancarlo Zema Design Group came up with the natural Baobab design: 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 vertiport is built with non-slip photovoltaic panels that can generate over 300 KW of electric power per day. The platform will have fully independent plug-and-play charging infrastructures that can be used to recharge EHang’s AAVs.
With the Baobab vertiport, EHang and Giancarlo Zema Design Group aim to enter the emerging global eco-tourism sector, with multiple projects being planned in Europe and Southeast Asia.