Evolito becomes first company in the UK to receive Design Organisation Approval from the CAA for electric propulsion systems

Evoli­to has received Design Organ­i­sa­tion Approval (DOA) from the UK Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty for elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem prod­ucts, rep­re­sent­ing the first time a com­pa­ny in the coun­try has achieved this mile­stone for elec­tric propul­sion sys­tems.

This accred­i­ta­tion is a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone towards cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of Evolito’s prod­ucts, as well as sup­port­ing cus­tomer require­ments to cer­ti­fy their elec­tric and hybrid air­craft. Type Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is nec­es­sary to prove an elec­tric air­craft, its propul­sion sys­tem or pro­peller are safe for com­mer­cial use.

The CAA’s approval of Evoli­to as a Design Organ­i­sa­tion demon­strates it is sat­is­fied the com­pa­ny has the tech­ni­cal exper­tise, facil­i­ties and capa­bil­i­ties to design safe and reli­able prod­ucts. It is also able to com­ply with strin­gent require­ments for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

Dr Chris Har­ris, Co-Founder and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer at Evoli­to, said: “Secur­ing Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty DOA approval is an impor­tant step in sup­port­ing our cus­tomers’ air­craft cer­ti­fi­ca­tion activ­i­ties and for apply­ing for Type Cer­tifi­cates for our elec­tric propul­sion sys­tems.

“Hold­ing our own Type Cer­tifi­cates will allow air­craft cus­tomers to inte­grate our com­po­nent off the shelf (COTS) elec­tric propul­sion solu­tions sav­ing air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ers both time and mon­ey and enabling them to focus on the air­craft cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.”

Evoli­to devel­ops axi­al-flux elec­tric motors, pow­er elec­tron­ics and bat­tery solu­tions for aero­space appli­ca­tions. The DOA process was ini­ti­at­ed in Autumn 2022, with rig­or­ous assess­ments of the com­pa­ny’s organ­i­sa­tion and pro­ce­dures and con­clud­ed with the signed approval in Octo­ber 2023.

Evolito’s axi­al flux elec­tric motors are described by the com­pa­ny as ‘proven in rate man­u­fac­ture’, which ‘offer class-lead­ing torque den­si­ties and sys­tem effi­cien­cies, best matched to pro­peller speeds used in eVTOL, UAV and fixed-wing air­craft appli­ca­tions’.

Com­bined with the bat­tery sys­tems and high integri­ty motor con­trol unit capa­bil­i­ties, Evoli­to cre­ates propul­sion solu­tions that at are opti­mised for the air­craft busi­ness case.

Gareth Mor­ris, Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer at Evoli­to, said: “We have been work­ing close­ly with the Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty through these thor­ough and rig­or­ous assess­ments, and we are delight­ed that they have award­ed Evoli­to the UK’s first DOA for an elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem.

“While this DOA takes Evoli­to one step clos­er to Type Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, it’s also an impor­tant step for the elec­tric aero­space indus­try, fur­ther accel­er­at­ing the com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion of elec­tric flight.”

Tendai Mutam­bir­wa, Inter­im Group Direc­tor of Safe­ty and Air­space Reg­u­la­tion at the UK Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty, added: “It is impor­tant we enable com­pa­nies like Evoli­to to bring their ideas to mar­ket in a safe, secure and sus­tain­able way. 

“We worked col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly with Evoli­to to make sure the high safe­ty stan­dards the pub­lic can expect were met. Grant­i­ng this Design Organ­i­sa­tion Approval is an essen­tial step for the elec­tric aero­space indus­try, and it empha­sis­es our com­mit­ment to make the UK a key des­ti­na­tion for avi­a­tion inno­va­tors.”