With the energy transition that must occur in aeronautics, new companies continue to appear with new ideas to fly without polluting, or polluting as little as possible. And today I am going to comment on one of them.
The company is called Electro Aero , and it proposes to bring a hybrid aircraft for 9 passengers to the regional flight market. The plane is moved by 8 electric motors placed on its wings (4 on each wing), and the energy is received from a battery, which in turn can also be recharged by a 600 kW turbo-generator.
The plane works with batteries with a capacity of 100 kW/h, and when these are discharged, the turbogenerator comes into operation and recharges them, so that it can continue flying. When the plane is on the ground it recharges its batteries, and only needs to use fuel for part of the flight.
It is an aircraft that can take off and land in very little space (ultra-STOL), and the company has already carried out two demonstration flights with a smaller prototype to demonstrate the viability of its idea.
The plane has been called Electra eVTOL and has a range of up to 500 miles and a maximum speed of 200 miles per hour. This makes it ideal for regional flights, such as those connecting nearby cities.
The passage of time will benefit this project in the future, since new batteries with greater capacity and lower weight and cost will appear. You can see a photo of the last test flight carried out with a prototype on a smaller scale.
The flexibility of use of this aircraft has generated a certain interest in the market, and the company has received more than 30 clients with plans to purchase more than 1,500 aircraft. But that will occur if the final aircraft offered to the market meet the announced expectations.
The Electra company has signed an agreement with the Safran company (very well known in the aeronautic market) for the supply of the 600 kW turbogenerator. that recharges the batteries during the flight, and helps keep the plane flying as long as necessary.
You can see the company's WEB at: https://www.electra.aero/
I like the idea, and it seems good and sensible to me. “Electrification” is going to produce big changes in the aeronautical world, and the most skilled will be able to carve out a niche for themselves in that market. But that is something very difficult to achieve, and as someone said quite a long time ago: many are called and few will be chosen.
The company's goal is to certify the device and start flying in 2028. And I hope they succeed.
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