Aerospace

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Ampaire flies first hybrid-electric regional aircraft

Ampaire’s Eco Caravan, a nine-seat regional aircraft, has made its first flight on an integrated hybrid-electric propulsion system. Ampaire expects it to be the first electrified regional aircraft to enter commercial service and the first in a series of larger Ampaire hybrid-electric aircraft. Fully electric aircraft are range-limited because of the weight and energy capacity […]

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Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 design takes inspiration from cars, aircraft and nature

Hyundai Motor Company says its Ioniq 6 EV has a drag coefficient of 0.21 and an all-electric range of 614 km (WLTP-rated) on a single charge, thanks to lessons learned from some of the most streamlined shapes in automotive and aircraft history, as well as in nature. From the automotive realm, it cites the 1947 […]

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Smart Test solutions partners up for high-power fuel cell testing project

As part of the FullStack TS fuel cell test bench project, a new generation of test benches is being developed to cover full stacks of cells of up to 200 kW. In the project, Smart Testsolutions will be responsible for monitoring the cell voltages. The project’s funding comes from the Baden-Wurttemberg Lebens-grundlage Umwelt und ihre […]

Grid

Cool approach to efficient air liners

GKN Aerospace has been working on cryogenic technology to boost the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells and electric motors for aircraft (writes Nick Flaherty). The ‘hyperconducting’ systems proposed by the company use the liquid hydrogen stored in the aircraft as fuel as a heat sink, cooling the electrical conductors to temperatures below -200 ºC to […]

PS

The power of decay

Launched on September 5, 1977, NASA’s space probe Voyager 1 is now the most distant human-made object in existence (writes Peter Donaldson). At the time of writing, the spacecraft had made it more than

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Airbus combines electric aircraft designs for air mobility initiative

Airbus is combining its two short-range electric aircraft designs – the rotor-based Vahana and the fixed-wing CityAirbus NextGen concept – for a collaboration in Germany (writes Nick Flaherty). “The first is for a long hover times, for example for rescue operations, while the Vahana is for longer flights, for example from Nuremberg to Munich,” says […]

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Meeting the challenges of developing e-VTOL air taxis

AutoFlight’s Prosperity I, a Chinese-designed e-VTOL air taxi sized to accommodate a pilot and three passengers, is intended to meet the rigorous safety standards that apply to transport-category aircraft including the largest airliners, and the company is aiming for certification and service entry in 2025 (writes Peter Donaldson). Invited by electric aviation pioneer and AutoFlight’s […]

In Conversation

David Hudson

Talking the talk The head of EV strategy at ePropelled tells Rory Jackson how he came into the role and shares details of the company’s dynamic torque switching technology Predicting growth or decline across different areas of the e-mobility world is challenging at the best of times. These days it is even more complex, with […]

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Ground vibration testing of NASA’s X-57 Maxwell electric aircraft

Electric propulsion is spawning aircraft with diverse and novel configurations. The multiple motors, rotors, propellers and fans associated with distributed electric propulsion are shaping many complex and unusual forms in the quest to enhance lift and thrust, and to reduce drag through close aerodynamic coupling with airframes. One of the most important processes in their development is ensuring that they don’t suffer from damaging vibration. To that end, NASA has used equipment from Hottinger Bruel & Kjær (HBK) to collect and process accelerometer data in ground vibration testing (GVT) for its X-57 Maxwell aircraft.

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ABB plans fast-charger network for electric aircraft

As with cars and trucks, electric aircraft need access to an extensive network of reliable fast chargers, and in October it was announced that ABB is to develop a megawatt fast-charging infrastructure for Lilium’s short-haul electric jet

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