Aerospace electrified by new technology

Image source, Faradair

From a small office overlooking an airfield, a tiny British start-up is hoping to make a little history of its own, as one of the pioneers of commercial electric aviation.

Faradair plans to develop and sell a hybrid electric passenger plane. It would have up to 19 seats and be powered by a fan. A small gas turbine would be used to provide the needed electricity.

It would have a triple level wing in order to allow take off and landings from short runways. This would make it look like a World War One fighter.

The chief executive of the company believes that a plane with less moving parts would be cheaper to run. It would be less noisy and produce less emissions.

He wants to know why we don't use planes like a bus.

Cost of operation is the main reason. If you start using a lot of planes it will cause a lot of noise and it's a key part of our future as well.

We came up with an aircraft that would be economical to use and also cost-effective, but would also be quiet and sustainable.

Image source, Faradair

He says that the Faradair design would allow short hops between cities for less than a train ticket.

The need for road or rail lines in more remote areas could be avoided with the use of such planes.

Commercial use of the aircraft is planned to start in the year 2027.

Faradair is not the only one who sees the potential of electric aviation at a time when governments around the world are looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions. The project is notambitious.

Wright Electric plans to bring a fully-electric 100 seat aircraft into service by the middle of the decade. The existing Bae 146 would be the basis of this new one.

The aircraft would be used to carry out one-hour flights, allowing it to serve routes such as London-Paris, New York-Washington or Hong Kong-Taipei.

The plane will be tested as a hybrid. The first engine to be replaced with an electric motor will be if the tests go well.

Jeffrey Engler said potential customers think this is a good approach and one they could follow when the aircraft enters production.

"When we talked to the airlines, they said, 'Well why don't you go hybrid initially, instead of full electric from the start?'"

The car industry began with hybrid as well. We are looking into that.

Even the best batteries are too heavy to power an airliner over long distances due to the fact that they contain less energy than traditional aviation fuels.

Image source, NASA/Bill Ingalls

The specific energy of today's batteries is not what you would need.

The e-Genius, a two-seater electric plane, was flown by the Institute more than a decade ago.

He says that they build their own battery systems for their aircraft.

We are getting in the range of 200 watt hours per kilogram. We are far away from what a large aircraft needs.

Today's technology can be used to build small, light electric aircraft of up to six seats.

It should be possible to build a larger commuter aircraft with up to 19 seats and still rely on battery power, though it would be at the edge of what is currently possible, according to him.

Image source, Eviation

The Alice, a nine-seater plane, would fit into this category. The aircraft has been designed to fly up to 600 miles on electric power.

It would need to be a hybrid, combining electric motor with engines or on-board generators.

The potential is there for both types of aircraft to create new aviation networks with small all-electric planes delivering passengers on short hops from local airfields to regional hubs It would be possible to carry them on journeys of up to 500 km.

He says it would be a denser network.

In mountainous areas, where you can't just build networks of high-speed railways, it would be used the most.

In places like Indonesia and Polynesia, there are many islands that need to be connected. There are places in the world that need such networks the most.

The first test flights of Alice will take place this summer.

Image source, Airbus

It's not likely that such technology will be used over long-distance routes and that's the reason why the European company has decided to focus on other areas.

The E-Fan X is a prototype hybrid plane that the company is working on. The project was based on the previous one.

The programme was canceled three years after it started. The head of the division responsible for researching new technologies thinks it was the right decision.

She wants to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050. We need to look at two different technologies in order to accomplish that.

The company is trying to reduce emissions by using sustainable aviation fuels.

Hydrogen will be used to power a new generation of clean aircraft.

The first zero-emission commercial aircraft based on hydrogen is the goal.

I have teams working on technology. What will come next is something we are looking into.