Flight International – 11 June 2019

66 | Flight International | 11-17 June 2019 flightglobal.com

PARIS

Special report

TOM RISEN WASHINGTON DC

Electric flight faces daunting

technical and social hurdles,

but small aircraft may be in

service by the mid-2020s

Off the ground

with a jolt – or volt

B

oeing envisions a future with electric-

powered aircraft that cut the costs and

emissions of jet fuel propulsion, but

its executives know that even their

vast company cannot get there alone. The

aerospace giant faces the same chemical lim-

its of battery technology as dozens of other

companies designing electric and gasoline-

electric hybrid aircraft, so is relying on invest-

ments and partnerships to supplement its in-

ternal projects.

All these companies also face the common

challenge of consumer scepticism about elec-

tric flight. At the Paris air show, Boeing will

try to rally the aviation industry around its vi-

sion by showcasing two electric-powered ver-

tical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Both of these – one designed for cargo and the

other for passengers – have already taken to

the skies in test flights.

Boeing chairman Dennis Muilenburg said

during a conference in March that “the mar-

ket is wide open” for cargo and autonomous

passenger aircraft and that it will “happen

faster than any of us think”.

With that in mind, Le Bourget this year will

include a full-size static display of Boeing’s

Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) and a scale

model of its smaller Cargo Air Vehicle (CAV).

Both are lifted by several propellers and pow-

ered by batteries, but the larger PAV is 9.14m

(30ft) long and 8.53m wide and designed to

carry passengers.

The manufacturer is involved with “a

whole spectrum of activity” on electric pro-

pulsion, but “there is a much nearer window

of applicability” for smaller aircraft including

the CAV and PAV, says Pete Kunz, chief tech-

nologist at Boeing’s HorizonX venture capital

arm. “A lot of our vision is focused on five, 10,

15 years [ahead],” he says of electric flight. “In

many places we are trying to be an enabler of

this technology.”

In terms of regulation and risk, he says,

“smaller platforms have a path that is a bit

more clear”, citing innovations and increas-

ing public acceptance in the small drone sec-

tor. The market is “a little more nascent” for

commercial aircraft that are fully electric or

assisted by some type of electric propulsion

but, he says, “we are active in that space”.

Fully electric commercial flight is the goal

of one HorizonX investment: Zunum Aero,

which is not scheduled to exhibit at Le Bour-

get. Neither Boeing nor Zunum would share

updates about the company’s progress on de-

veloping a battery-powered commercial air-

craft that it aims to market to regional airlines

some time in the 2020s. Zunum’s investors

also include JetBlue’s Technology Ventures,

and in October 2018 the start-up chose Safran

to develop a generator for its regional aircraft.

FUNDING NEW MARKETS

To spur progress on electric propulsion, Boe-

ing offers its partner companies and invest-

ments access to its vast infrastructure and

engineering experience of “how to build safe

architectures, how to bring these technolo-

gies together into a vehicle and how to bring

them together to meet the customer needs”,

Kunz says. “It is important to have a wide

view” seeking out companies that develop

electric aircraft propulsion, because many

companies are working to develop the neces-

sary technology and it is “too early to pick a

winner”, he adds.

Aurora Flight Sciences, purchased by Boe-

ing in 2017, is what he calls “a non-integrated

subsidiary” because few structural changes