My Other Car Is a $280,000 Flying Truck
China’s Aridge Land Aircraft Carrier isn’t a sci-fi fantasy — it’s a six-wheeled, range-extended truck that poops out a flying pod. And it actually works.
The Skeptic
Not long ago, I wrote about a ridiculous thing called the Land Aircraft Carrier — a flying-truck concept from Aridge, formerly XPENG’s experimental division. I called it “brilliant vaporware,” had a laugh, and moved on.
Then something strange happened: the internet went berserk. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one morbidly curious about whether this six-wheeled transformer was a clever CGI hoax or a battery-acid fever dream.
So, being the stubborn, jet-lag-loving journalist that I am, I got on a 16-hour flight to China to see it myself. I expected a shiny mock-up and some smooth-talking executives. What I found instead… blew my socks clean off.
It’s real. It drives. It flies. It actually works.
The Legend of the “Flying Car”
Flying cars have been “five years away” since before the moon landing. They’ve shared magazine covers with jetpacks and underwater hotels. So when XPENG spun off a company claiming to have built a real flying truck, I rolled my eyes hard enough to sprain an optic nerve.
But Aridge — XPENG’s high-altitude alter ego — wasn’t bluffing. After sitting inside the prototype, watching it take off, and even playing with its controls, I can honestly say: this is the most insane and brilliant piece of engineering I’ve ever seen.
And yes — I want one.
Meet the Land Aircraft Carrier
Here’s the pitch: it’s two vehicles in one.
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The “Land” part — a three-axle, six-wheel-drive electric truck with an onboard generator (an EREV, or extended-range electric vehicle). Think: Mad Max goes eco-friendly.
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The “Aircraft” part — a detachable, two-seat eVTOL pod that folds out and takes to the sky.
The truck itself is enormous: 18 feet long, 6.6 feet wide and tall, and built on an 800-volt platform. It’s a mobile base, a charging station, and a landing pad all in one. The range? Over 620 miles — enough to drive, fly, and drive some more.
When the pod is low on juice, you dock it into the truck, and it charges from 30% to 80% in just 18 minutes. The mothership can do that five times before needing its own recharge.
The Flying Bit
The flying pod is a fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It seats two people inside a gorgeous 270-degree panoramic cockpit and uses aviation-grade composites for strength and lightness.
Top speed? A modest 56 mph. This isn’t Top Gun — it’s built for short, low-altitude hops. Perfect for skipping over traffic jams or hopping from your mansion to your yacht.
Range anxiety? Hardly. The truck can recharge it multiple times, giving you a full afternoon of aerial joyrides.
Flying for Dummies (That’s Me)
Aridge claims you can learn to fly it in about an hour. One joystick — forward to go forward, left to go left. One-click takeoff, one-click return, intelligent landing. It’s so simple it feels like a video game.
And yet, this thing is drenched in safety systems. Dual batteries, dual ducts, triple-redundant flight computers. If one system fails, two more take over. It’s like flying with iOS, Android, and Windows all running at once — paranoid engineering at its finest.
Why It’s Possible Now
This entire project only works because electrification and AI have finally caught up with the dream. The pod’s electric powertrain has a power-to-weight ratio 15× higher than a car’s. Its energy-dense batteries (255 Wh/kg) make sustained vertical flight feasible for the first time.
And in China, the ecosystem is ready. Pilot training for personal eVTOLs takes just four weekends. The “Low Altitude Economy” is a real, regulated market — not a sci-fi headline.
Production and Price
Aridge’s Guangzhou factory is already spinning up to mass-produce the Land Aircraft Carrier, with deliveries planned for early 2026. Over 7,000 orders are already in the books.
Price tag? $280,000. A fortune for a car, sure — but for a truck and your own personal aircraft? Practically a bargain.
Use Cases Beyond the Hype
It’s easy to imagine this thing for luxury travel or adventure tourism, but the real magic might be elsewhere.
Search and rescue. Disaster response. Remote medicine. A fleet of these could roll into inaccessible terrain, deploy their flying pods, and coordinate missions without any infrastructure.
The military applications? Let’s just say… they’ve probably thought of that too.
Final Thoughts
I went to China a skeptic and came back in awe — and a little bit envious. While the West debates whether flying cars are “realistic,” China’s already licensing pilots and building the infrastructure.
Aridge isn’t waiting for permission. They’re doing it.
And now I’m sitting here wondering: how do I convince my wife to buy a ranch with mountains and rivers, just so I can park a Land Aircraft Carrier in the yard and fly to the end of the driveway like a Bond villain?
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Tags: flying car, electric vehicle, eVTOL, XPENG, Aridge, EV innovation, future mobility, Chinese tech, aerial transport, next-gen vehicles