Li Yiheng, Zero Gravity: eVTOL Can Truly Serve the Masses and Redefine Transportation | BlueRun Ventures Headlines

Just 30 meters above the ground, the possibilities of low-altitude economy are taking flight. As a pioneering player in the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft space, ZeroG Aircraft Industry has been dedicated to aviation electrification since 2021, aiming to build an entirely new transportation ecosystem. BlueRun Ventures was the exclusive seed-round investor in ZeroG and has continued to increase its stake.

Recently, Yiou conducted an exclusive interview with Li Yiheng, founder and CEO of ZeroG. We're sharing this article today to introduce you to the unlimited mobility possibilities that ZeroG brings —

At the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference, low-altitude economy, biomanufacturing, and commercial aerospace were designated as China's strategic emerging industries. So what exactly is low-altitude economy? And what is its current state of development?

The low-altitude economy industrial architecture mainly comprises four aspects: low-altitude manufacturing, low-altitude flight operations, low-altitude support services, and integrated services. The upstream of this industrial chain consists of raw materials, components, and aerospace systems; the midstream includes various low-altitude economy products such as drones, helicopters, eVTOLs, and flying cars; the downstream covers application and operation, encompassing logistics, medical rescue, tourism and sightseeing, personnel training, and aerial patrol.

To fully understand the current state of low-altitude economy development, Yiou will engage in dialogue with industry experts, executives of low-altitude economy-related enterprises, and various stakeholders following this sector. Through the "Low-Altitude Economy 20 Voices" series, we aim to map out China's low-altitude economy development, focusing on market insights, scenario application exploration, local policy innovation practices, and future trend analysis, with the goal of forecasting the industry's future trajectory.

Amid the wave of low-altitude economy, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, as a new form of transportation, are gradually becoming a focal point of attention. As a technology-leading enterprise in this field, ZeroG Aircraft Industry possesses exceptional technology and forward-looking vision. We had the privilege of interviewing Li Yiheng, founder and CEO of ZeroG, to discuss their exploration and practice in the eVTOL field.

01

Building the Third Transportation Ecosystem on Earth

Yiou: First, thank you for accepting our interview. The ZeroG team comes from an aircraft manufacturing background — why did you choose the eVTOL track?

Li Yiheng: From the definition of eVTOL, it falls within the broad category of aircraft and specifically belongs to the helicopter class.

Our ZeroG team has consistently focused on the development of new-energy aircraft, hoping to create aircraft that are more integrated into everyday life and that can truly transform the transportation system in future lifestyles.

The two biggest characteristics of eVTOL are electrification and vertical take-off and landing. Electrification can reduce costs and enhance intelligence, while vertical take-off and landing can lower the barrier to use. eVTOL can make aircraft truly serve the public as vehicles. Therefore, we founded ZeroG in 2021 and resolutely chose aviation electrification — eVTOL — as our development direction. Building the third transportation ecosystem on Earth is our vision at ZeroG.

Yiou: The concept of aerial mobility is still very new. Won't the cost of using aircraft as vehicles for everyday life be relatively high?

Li Yiheng: Transportation costs shouldn't be viewed solely in terms of vehicle price; you also need to consider the per-kilometer travel cost after the transportation system is built out. In reality, the investment in infrastructure and supporting facilities for automobile transportation is massive. For less developed transportation regions, aircraft can serve as an excellent way to improve mobility.

Aircraft serving public transportation already exists — for example, helicopters or general aviation small planes used as urban or intercity transportation tools can greatly improve travel efficiency. However, their comprehensive costs are high and the barriers to use are high, so they haven't achieved large-scale commercial deployment.

eVTOL can make the per-kilometer price paid by each passenger comparable to that of a premium car service, with a relatively affordable barrier to entry. First, electric aircraft cost 50% less than fuel-powered aircraft. Second, eVTOL doesn't require general aviation airport construction costs running into the tens of millions or hundreds of millions — basic take-off and landing points can be built for just a few hundred thousand.

Yiou: Compared to aircraft manufacturing, what new technologies and problems does eVTOL development involve?

Li Yiheng: eVTOL isn't simply about electrifying traditional aircraft or simplifying vertical flight. It more importantly integrates intelligence and autonomous flight-related technologies. In the R&D process, first there's aviation electrification, meaning changes to the three-electric system, which still requires compliance verification in the airworthiness domain. Second, there are technical breakthroughs for distributed propulsion specific to eVTOL and the series of aerodynamic problems, coupling problems, and other issues it creates. Third, there's the technical balancing act between autonomous flight control and airworthiness safety requirements, which are inherently in tension. Fourth, there's the application of new materials — this actually covers the technical issues involved in the complete aircraft R&D process. Beyond this, there are obstacles in areas like legal and regulatory construction that we need to continuously break through and resolve.

Yiou: Facing these new technology integrations, how does ZeroG address talent needs in this area?

Li Yiheng: For these new technologies and new problems, we bring in professional talent from related fields to complete the entirely new design of eVTOL. These individuals may not have aviation experience or an aviation background, but they can help us solve problems related to motors, batteries, and intelligence. As an aviation industry aircraft R&D team, we focus more on solving compatibility and complex systems engineering problems. When facing entirely new power systems, energy systems, and power distribution and transmission layouts, we need to balance how to bring the aircraft to a relatively optimal state.

02

Sustainable Revenue Generation Aligned with Industry Cycles

Yiou: Currently, domestic eVTOL OEMs generally focus on deep R&D for a single aircraft model, but we noticed that ZeroG has three generations of models. What was the thinking behind this?

Li Yiheng: We believe eVTOL development is a long-cycle track. In the early stages, we need certain product manifestations to help us generate revenue, rather than relying entirely on financing to move forward. Therefore, when defining products and formulating strategic planning, we clearly identified that we could achieve rapid commercialization for some closed scenarios or small-scale applications in the early phase. With this in mind, we defined our first-generation model ZG-ONE and second-generation model ZG-VC2, while also building our third-generation model ZG-T6 around the full tilt-rotor direction to compete with the world's leading eVTOL products.

In the first half of this year, we made an adjustment. Although the second-generation model had progressed to a 50% scale prototype and completed adaptation, we paused the second-generation compound wing configuration project. Currently, the first-generation multi-rotor configuration ZG-ONE has entered the productization phase, and our R&D focus is on the third-generation full tilt-rotor configuration ZG-T6.

Yiou: Could you introduce ZeroG's manned aircraft products?

Li Yiheng: ZeroG currently has three main manned aircraft products.

First is the electric fixed-wing aircraft RX1E-A. While it cannot perform vertical take-off and landing, its advantage is that it's already a mature product with an airworthiness certificate, ready for commercial delivery at any time. Its main application scenario is primary flight training.

The manned eVTOL products are ZG-ONE and ZG-T6 respectively.

ZG-ONE is positioned to serve mass tourism and low-altitude flight sightseeing experiences. Therefore, under the premise of closed-scenario applications, it's designed as an unmanned two-seat layout aircraft with a range of 30 kilometers, endurance of 25 minutes, maximum takeoff weight of 650 kilograms, and maximum cruising speed of 125 kilometers per hour. Its advantages include a swappable battery architecture and top-mounted rotors, with a whole-aircraft ballistic parachute and triple-redundant flight control computer as safety guarantees. The swappable battery design improves operational turnaround efficiency. ZG-ONE has received intent orders for over 200 units, with plans for small-batch delivery in 2024 and scaled commercial use after obtaining its type certificate (TC).

ZG-T6 targets future urban and intercity air mobility. As a general-purpose eVTOL, its biggest characteristic is that all parameters will be significantly better than the multi-rotor ZG-ONE. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 2.5 tons, a six-seat single-pilot layout, range of 300 kilometers, endurance of 90 minutes, and cruising speed of 300 kilometers per hour. It's a tilt-six-rotor configuration aircraft. ZG-T6 is not currently being commercially promoted because we believe its maturity and certification cycle are both relatively long. However, what can be confirmed is that its application scenarios will be medium-to-long distance urban and intercity air mobility.

Yiou: Domestic eVTOL development generally concentrates on tilt-rotor and compound wing configurations. Could you introduce the advantages of the tilt-rotor configuration?

Li Yiheng: Tilt-rotor represents a technologically advanced but relatively high-threshold route among eVTOL configurations. After future productization, it will definitely be superior in parameters — this is a consensus basically reached within the industry. However, because its technical threshold and barriers are both relatively high, some teams choose to use compound wing configuration aircraft to fulfill future medium-to-long distance transportation needs. But I believe the tilt-rotor technical route is still the optimal solution.

Yiou: Could you share ZeroG's development plans for the next five years?

Yiheng: As an entirely new vehicle, eVTOL requires a 7 to 8-year development cycle. In the early stages, when products, technology, and regulations are all immature, continuous capital investment is needed to drive industry development.

Based on this, ZeroG will use the RX1E-A — the only domestically TC-certified two-seat light sport aircraft — as a commercially delivered product in the early stage, providing continuous revenue generation for the next 2 to 3 years. In the medium term, after obtaining its TC, the eVTOL manned aircraft ZG-ONE will be used for large-scale commercial deployment, with small-batch deliveries before that for scenario model implementation. In the long term, after the low-altitude economy industry matures, the tilt-six-rotor configuration aircraft ZG-T6 will become the flagship product to compete with global同类产品, with commercial use and large-batch delivery planned for after 2028.

Yiou: Large-scale commercial deployment of manned eVTOL will take considerable time. Will the industry face pressure in terms of financing?

Li Yiheng: We believe that compared to other industries, the eVTOL industry is currently in a favorable period, so financing pressure is somewhat less. Looking at the overall environment, investors still value financial data, and for startups, having certain financial data in the early stages is relatively difficult. However, ZeroG has mature revenue-generating products, so we don't face much pressure on the financing front. Even without financing, our team can survive until the critical milestone arrives.

03

Policy and Market Drivers of Low-Altitude Economy Development

Yiou: ZeroG is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui. Why did you choose Hefei as your company headquarters?

Li Yiheng: ZeroG began preparation at the end of 2020. The initial five-person team came from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. We chose and established ourselves in Hefei in May 2022, while retaining Nanjing as our R&D branch.

There were three main considerations for choosing Hefei. First, Anhui Province is the third pilot province for national low-altitude airspace opening, giving it inherent advantages in low-altitude airspace opening support and scenario application implementation. Second, Hefei, as a popular government entity in the venture capital circle, provides very strong support for technology enterprises like ours in their early stages. Third, Hefei already has a complete intelligent manufacturing industry cluster, such as new energy batteries and intelligent cockpits, giving us substantial supply chain support and assistance.

Yiou: Currently in the low-altitude economy field, various cities and even some district-level governments have corresponding supportive policies. As an enterprise, how effective do you think policies are in driving low-altitude economy development?

Li Yiheng: The promulgation of policies has had very obvious driving effects for OEMs and other general aviation small aircraft.

We can look at the development of the aviation industry over the past two decades. When policy support wasn't so clear, because low-altitude airspace opening was uncertain, many places domestically couldn't push forward scenario implementation or flights. The difficulty level for every aircraft flight was relatively high. As technical facilities improve and low-altitude management experience increases, more and more regions will achieve low-altitude airspace opening. More scenarios and more flight sorties will bring greater aircraft demand, and also bring more scenarios and orders for us OEMs.

Yiou: In your view, what will the actual application scenarios of future low-altitude economy look like?

Li Yiheng: The ultimate application scenarios will definitely serve the public's lifestyle, but we believe this is a process.

For ZeroG, next year we will have deliveries and scenario applications related to low-altitude economy products. For example, the electric fixed-wing Ruixiang RX1E-A will have batch deliveries, and ZG-ONE will have small-batch deliveries for closed scenarios and flight sightseeing experiences, serving as early pilots for subsequent low-altitude economy scenario implementation.

Ultimately, we believe that aircraft produced by eVTOL manufacturers will become part of daily life — clothing, food, housing, and transport — serving the public as vehicles. Low-altitude airspace will be divided into multiple altitude layers, enabling aircraft to fly regularly, solving current urban and intercity congestion problems from a new angle, evolving current two-dimensional transportation into three-dimensional transportation, and redefining human mobility.

**

Originating in Silicon Valley, BlueRun Ventures was established in 2005 and is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups.

Currently, BlueRun Ventures manages multiple USD and RMB dual-currency funds in China, with assets under management exceeding RMB 15 billion, making it one of the largest early-stage funds domestically. Its investment stage focuses on Pre-A and Series A rounds, covering technology, consumer, and healthcare sectors. It has cumulatively invested in nearly 200 startups, including Li Auto, Waterdrop, QingCloud, Guazi.com, Qudian, Ganji.com, Energy Monster, Gaussian Robotics, Songguo Mobility, Yuntou Semiconductor, Machenike, Yunsheng Intelligence, Anxin Netshield, and BioMap.

BlueRun Ventures has been ranked first in Zero2IPO's "China Top 30 Early-Stage Investment Institutions," first in ChinaVenture's "China Best Early-Stage Venture Capital Institutions TOP30," and among Preqin's Top 10 globally consistent high-return VC fund managers.

Additionally, BlueRun Ventures has consecutively received honors such as "China Best Early-Stage Institution of the Year," "China Top Venture Capital Institution," "Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Early-Stage Institution of the Year," and "Most Influential Early-Stage Institution of the Year" from media organizations including Forbes China, 36Kr, Cyzone, Caixin Media, CBNweekly, and Jiemian.