EHang · China
EH216-S
A two-seat pilotless air taxi: passengers climb in, and it flies a preset route on its own, watched from the ground. The first passenger eVTOL to hold full Chinese certification.
Holds CAAC type, production and operator certificates. As of June 2026, operators were running trial commercial flights ahead of public ticketed service.
How it works
7 ideas that make EH216-S different
No pilot at all
There are no flight controls for passengers. The EH216-S follows a pre-planned route using satellite positioning and its own navigation, taking off and landing on its own.
Watched from the ground
Every flight is overseen by a central command-and-control system that can manage a whole fleet, much like air-traffic control for drones.
Rotors in stacked pairs
Its rotors are mounted coaxially, one above another on each arm, which packs more lift into a compact frame without making the aircraft wider.
Computers that vote
Several flight computers run at once and vote on every decision, while a health monitor watches the aircraft in real time and decides whether to carry on or land.
Certified step by step
China's aviation authority approved the design (2023), then its production (2024), then companies to fly paying passengers in it (2025), the full chain an airliner needs.
Battery care between flights
Quick turnarounds heat the batteries, so EHang added a dedicated battery-cooling vehicle that shortens the wait before the next flight.
A solid-state battery on trial
In a November 2024 test, EHang flew an EH216-S for 48 minutes and 10 seconds on a solid-state battery: lithium metal and a ceramic electrolyte instead of liquid, storing 480 Wh per kilogram. That is roughly double the time quoted for its standard battery, though the solid-state pack was still a test, not the production version.
Watch it fly
10-Min Across Inland Sea: Shuanglang-Xizhou Low-Altitude Route Debuts — EHang (official). Official EHang footage of a new route across Erhai Lake, Yunnan.
Full specifications
Compare with other eVTOLsFigures are the maker's own unless marked as a third-party figure. Nothing below has been independently verified.
Identity
Configuration
What this means
Manual means a person on board flies it, usually helped by computers that keep it stable. Autonomous means no pilot at all: the aircraft follows a planned route and is watched from the ground.
What this means
Very light single-seat aircraft can fall under ultralight rules, which in some countries (including the US) need no pilot's licence. Heavier or passenger-carrying aircraft need a licensed pilot, or no pilot at all if certified as autonomous. Rules differ by country.
What this means
A multicopter uses many rotors for both lifting and moving, like a big drone: simple, but energy-hungry. Designs with a wing use the rotors to take off, then let the wing carry the weight in forward flight, which goes faster and farther on the same battery.
Performance
What this means
The heaviest the aircraft is allowed to be when it leaves the ground, fully loaded. Subtract the empty weight and you get how much it can carry. Electric aircraft are heavy for their size because batteries hold far less energy per kilogram than fuel.
What this means
Max speed is the fastest an aircraft may fly; cruise speed is the efficient pace it normally travels at, and is always lower. Each figure here says which one it is, so compare like with like.
What this means
How high an eVTOL may fly is often set by law or by software rather than by what the aircraft could physically do. Ultralights, for instance, are restricted to low altitudes, and most eVTOLs are designed to fly a few hundred metres up.
Power
Safety
What this means
Aircraft that carry passengers commercially need a type certificate (the design is safe), a production certificate (it can be built consistently) and an operator certificate (a company may fly it for paying customers). Ultralights skip most of this, which is why they reach buyers sooner.
Sources
Last checked 2026-10-22.