Just as the wheels touched down on Virgin Atlantic’s historic flight from London to New York yesterday, powered by a low-carbon fuel engine made by Rolls-Royce, the company has announced a new shift. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç says it’s time to sell off its electric jet engine unit and focus on other strategies – namely sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF.
Hydrogen-electric plane developer ZeroAvia has snagged some additional financial security as it looks to continue development of its zero-emissions flight technology that should one day enable flights in 76-seat aircrafts. The latest financing round featured some familiar names as well as some leading investments from Airbus, Barclays, and Saudi Arabia’s “living laboratory,” NEOM.
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Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she wants to “make flying green” in an ambitious New Year’s speech that included a commitment by Denmark’s government to make domestic flights fossil fuel free by 2030 – how the country will achieve that goal is still in question.
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Airbus has revealed three concepts for the world’s first emissions-free commercial aircraft that could enter service by 2035 — and all would run on hydrogen. Each concept explores different technology pathways and aerodynamic configurations to achieve net zero.
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VoltAero is testing new Safran electric motors on its Cassio e-plane. The electric-hybrid airplane has a few tricks up its sleeves.
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Improvements in battery technology are quickly starting to enable manned electric flight, which some companies now want to combine with drones.
Audi and Airbus partnered with Italdesign to work together on a passenger drone/electric car hybrid concept.
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Electric and self-piloted aircraft might be coming sooner than you think. Competition is a great accelerator in bringing technologies to market and it seems like there’s never been that many companies in the field. Earlier this year, it was even revealed that Alphabet CEO Larry Page was financing two separate startups with over $100 million to compete in developing their own electric aircraft designs.
Now Airbus is also entering the race and unveiled its design for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) electric and autonomous aircraft.
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Airbus has a wholly-owned subsidiary called APWorks, which is set up to develop additive manufacturing techniques – especially metallic 3D printing – for the supply chains of Airbus’ main businesses. From time to time, the company releases independent products developed through their manufacturing work for Airbus.
The latest of such product is particularly interesting to us at Electrek: a 3D printed all-electric motorcycle.
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Airbus accomplished an historic exploit last week when their E-Fan concept, a manned electric plane, crossed the English Channel to be the first battery powered plane to do so, 106 years after Louis Blériot made the first crossing with his monoplane. The 37 minute flight itself might not seem that impressive, but considering the current state of electric propulsion, it is a hopeful glimpse into the future of electric air transport.
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