‘Eureka’ Moment For Electroflight With All-Electric Airliner Battery
25 January 2021
Electroflight is pleased to announce its role in a partnership with Swedish aerospace start-up Heart Aerospace and regulatory and compliance experts Bains Simonds, to develop a battery system to power a new, all-electric regional airliner; the ES-19.
The partnership successfully secured over €1.5m in funding under a joint UK/Swedish government scheme known as the EUREKA Initiative, which aims to encourage cooperative research and development projects.
A High Energy Propulsion Battery System (HEPBAS), currently being developed by Electroflight, is a bespoke, high-integrity battery designed to be aerospace certifiable for flight. The project will design, build and ground test this innovative prototype high energy battery pack, battery management system (BMS) and onboard charger. The HEPBAS system will eventually be interfaced with a ground test rig to develop the aircraft’s electric drivetrain.
Douglas Campbell, Technical Director, Electroflight, said, “This is an extremely exciting program for Electroflight, Heart Aerospace and Baines Simmons, one which perfectly aligns with our shared vision to advance electric aircraft technologies for commercial aviation applications.
“The Energy Storage Systems being developed for the Heart ES-19 platform use all of the know-how we’ve built up from ACCEL (world’s fastest all-electric aircraft) and other cutting-edge aerospace electrification programs, enabling us to meet stringent EASA certification requirements around safety, containment, thermal management and monitoring via our battery management system.”
“At first flight, this could well be the largest certifiable battery system in existence. Achieving this sort of breakthrough in electric aviation technology during such a disrupted and challenging year shows the incredible resilience and innovation in our industry. We are proud to be a part of this ground-breaking project and can assure everyone there is plenty more to come in the near future.”
The ES-19, which is under development by Heart Aerospace, will be capable of carrying 19 passengers up-to 400 kilometres, powered by four electric engines which will be fed by the new battery system created by Electroflight. Able to operate from the shorter runways typically found at regional town and city airports, the ES-19 is scheduled to enter service from 2026.
Design and development of the new battery pack will take place at Electroflight’s facility at Gloucester Airport in the United Kingdom. The facility, which is set up for the manufacture of high-integrity battery systems, will allow Electroflight to lead on the safe development of all-electric aircraft into the 21st century.
Electroflight has a history of design and development of high-integrity battery systems and is currently working alongside Rolls-Royce to develop and build the world's fastest all-electric aircraft. This pedigree and reputation for innovation and safety places Electroflight in a prime position to help develop the future of electric commercial aviation.
