Engineering news
Wright Electric aims to fly 150 passengers the 344km to Paris in its electric plane by 2027.
It hasn't yet started building it, but says that the “fully-electric” plane will offer “fantastic cost savings”, largely because it will not need expensive fuel to fly. It would also be less noisy than current aircraft.
The firm may get there first, but it may not - as major aerospace giants are also developing their own electric aircraft, such as Airbus’ prototype two-seater electric aircraft called E-Fan. It takes off and lands using electrical power and became the first electric hybrid to cross the English Channel in July 2015. However, current battery technology is not good enough to provide power to a commercially-sized jet like the one that Wright Electric wants to build.
Wright Electric has admitted that batteries are the biggest challenge for their ambitious project. However, in a blog the company says that “a near-future jump to a chemistry like Li-Metal” could massively improve battery power - and it “doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility”.
The start-up will not be developing the battery technology for its plane, however. Instead, it plans to work closely with American inventor Chip Yates, known for making the world’s fastest electric aircraft, the Long-ESA.
If battery technology doesn’t improve, Wright Electric will instead go for a hybrid design with electric motors “like a Volt” – a concept plane proposed by Boeing.
Paul Robertson, who has developed electric aircraft at Cambridge University, said that it would be “possible but unlikely” for the start-up to achieve its goal of flying from London to Paris by 2027.
The numbers for energy density and range will “probably stack up by then,” assuming battery energy density continues to increase by about 5% per year, Robertson told PE.
But the company would also have to undertake huge amounts of design and development, including pilot training, safety approvals and ground infrastructure for charging and swapping batteries, he added. Wright Electric will also need to develop lightweight electric motors for commercial scale and a more efficient airframe, “more like motor-gliders” than current airliners, to reduce drag, he said.
“Inevitably, there will be smaller stepping stones before we see aircraft of the 150 seat scale,” said Robertson. Demonstrators will also need to be tested before commercial operations, to “build flight hours, identify problems and build confidence” - and all of this would require “substantial resources”.
Funding may not be an issue for Wright Electric as it is backed by Y Combinator, a start-up incubator programme in Silicon Valley. It has supported successful technology companies including AirBnB and file storage company Dropbox.
According to Wright Electric, budget airline EasyJet has expressed an interest in the technology. EasyJet told PE it has had discussions with Wright Electric and are "actively providing an airline operators perspective on the development of this exciting technology".