The Chinese eVTOL startup TCab Tech (时的科技）revealed their fundraising situation and their five-seat eVTOL design E20.
TCab Tech was founded in Shanghai in May 2021 with a group of veterans with the background of both conventional aviation industry and eVTOL.
TCab metaphors ‘time cab’, named with the mission to offer affordable and time-efficient means of transportation to the general public, and above all, having everyone enjoys the moment of flight.
The founder and CEO of the company, Yon Wui NG, was previously Vice General Manager of Geely Terrafugia responsible for the eVTOL aircraft named TF-2A. Before Geely Terrafugia, Yon spent 10 years with Airbus China Engineering Center whereby one of his positions was Head of Engineering for the engineering center.
TCab Tech securied close to 10 millions USD within one month from their Seed and Seed+ fundraising. The Seed investment comes from BlueRun Ventures, whereas the Seed+ investment comes from Decent Capital. BlueRun Ventures is a pronounced venture capital which has supported more than 150 startups since its China-based establishment in 2005. Decent Capital was founded by Tencent co-founder Jason Zeng, it is a leading venture capital focusing on advanced technology, industrialized innovation, and web-based investments.
According to the press, the eVTOL aircraft is designed to compliance with EASA and CAAC airworthiness requirements amid EASA has published SC-VTOL while the team is exploring certification basis for passenger-carrying eVTOL with CAAC.
E20 has a tilt-rotor configuration. Noticing from the photos released, it has fixed landing gear, two wing leading-edge extended struts for accommodating its stowable two-bladed lift rotors, and a pair of distinctive dorsa-fins on its rear tilt-nacelles.
The company says in the press release that in comparison of multicopter and compound wing (seperate rotors for lift and cruise) configuration,tilt-rotor can achieve more effective cruise flight and thus longer range which is very important for eVTOL constrained with current battery technology.
E20 has seagull high wing to raise the position of the wings so that passengers can have ingress and egressget of the cabin more safely and conveniently. The airframe will be built with carbon fiber composite materials to achieve lightweight with high structural strength. E20 will embed no single point of failure in the flight control design.
E20 will have a maximum payload of 450kg, five seats (one for the pilot, four for passengers), 200kg range and 260km/h cruising speed.
According to the press, the eVTOL aircraft is designed to compliance with EASA and CAAC airworthiness requirements amid EASA has published SC-VTOL while the team is exploring certification basis for passenger-carrying eVTOL with CAAC. The media release also indicates that the E20 has a wingspan equivalent to the diameter of a small helicopter’s rotor, permitting the eVTOL aircraft to make use of the smallest helipad infrastructures on the existing highrises.
While there are overwhelming European and American air taxi startups, there have been rather limited Chinese counterparts. Majority of Chinese companies focus on drone rather than air taxi application. With TCab Tech breaking the ice with their fundraising, we expect to see more Chinese advanced air mobility startups to unveil soon. Stay tuned.