Specialised high voltage charger to boost Ampaire’s hybrid electric aircraft flights

The world’s first high voltage charger specifically designed for aviation use will power electric flight demonstrations around the world.

Developed by Australian company Electro.Aero, the first customer for the Rapid 30kW aircraft charging system will be Ampaire. The Los Angeles company is retrofitting passenger aircraft to electric power as the “leanest, fastest, most capital-efficient approach” to commercial electric flight.

The Rapid 30 can deliver 30kW of power over a wide DC output voltage, from 300V to 1kV.

Electro.Aero co-founder and CTO Joshua Portlock said he was “pleased to be supporting Ampaire with their electric propulsion technology and excited about the opportunity to support this emerging industry.”

Ampaire hopes that electric flight could make air travel more accessible, with more flights from more airports, so the Rapid charger could enable quick turnarounds.