Electric Aircraft - eVTOL Insights

Elfly Group Obtains Grant from Norwegian Government Agency to Develop Prototype of All-Electric Seaplane

Chris Stonor4 September 2023

Norway's Elfly Group has gained a USD8 million grant from Enova SF, the country’s Ministry of Climate and Environment Agency, “to forge ahead” with the production of its full-scale prototype of an all-electric commercial seaplane called The Noemi, r...

Beta ‘Alia’ Evaluated By First Commercial Customer, Bristow, Flight Major Success

Chris Stonor24 August 2023

Bristow Group, best known for its helicopters, conducted this week a successful “qualitative evaluation” of Beta Technologies electric-powered aircraft, Alia-250, reports a press release. Bristow a year ago, signed an agreement with Beta to initiall...

Ampaire Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Completes Historic Alaska Flight

Chris Stonor23 August 2023

Ampaire Inc announced this week that its hybrid-electric aircraft successfully accomplished a 3,400-mile series of flights from Southern California to Fairbanks International Airport, Alaska on August 13th, reports a press release. The rele...

EP Systems Announces “Significant Partnership” with Regent Seaglider

Chris Stonor24 April 2023

U.S-based EP Systems (Electric Power Systems) has announced it’s entered into a significant partnership with Regent Aircraft, to supply electric power integration technology for the company’s seaglider, reports a press release. This coolaboration...

LCI commits to buying up to 125 of BETA Technologies’ ALIA eVTOL aircraft

Jason Pritchard29 April 2022

LCI, a leading aviation company and a subsidiary of the Libra Group, has signed an agreement to acquire up to 125 of BETA Technologies' ALIA eVTOL aircraft. LCI will initially acquire 50 aircraft currently under development at BETA’s facili...

LaunchPoint announces Hybrid Power System for both aircraft and drones, which includes software for eVTOL aircraft

Jason Pritchard15 April 2022

LaunchPoint Electric Propulsion Solutions has announced the commercialisation of its patent-pending, hybrid electric power system for aircraft. The Hybrid Power System (HPS) is a revolutionary ecosystem of complex motor and controller hardware, p...

Textron to acquire Pipistrel and form new business segment with a focus on developing sustainable aircraft

Jason Pritchard17 March 2022

Textron, home to the Cessna, Beechcraft and Bell aviation brands, has confirmed an agreement to purchase Slovenian electric aircraft developer Pipistrel The transaction is expected during Q2 2022 and will also include the companies PIPISTREL d.o....

BAE Systems makes multi-million dollar facility investment in New York state to support aircraft electrification

Jason Pritchard14 December 2021

BAE Systems has invested in a multi-million dollar project in Endicott, New York, to support the development and advanced manufacturing of subsystems for electric aircraft. The upgraded engineering development, manufacturing and laboratory space...

eVTOL Insights Podcast: Josh Portlock and Darren Smith of Electro.Aero offer insight into aircraft charging systems and infrastructure

Jason Pritchard29 July 2021

Our next podcast episode is now live and we were delighted to be joined by Josh Portlock and Darren Smith from Electro.Aero. The company designs and builds aviation chargers and related systems, including onboard Electrical Management Systems, an...

Danish Air Force first in the world to train its pilots using Pipistrel’s Velis Electro aircraft

Jason Pritchard8 June 2021

Denmark's Air Force has become the first in the world to use Pipistrel's Velis Electro aircraft to train its pilots, as part of a government plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 70 per cent by 2030. The Velis Electro is the world's first fully certifi...

Archer goes public at a valuation of $3.8 billion; United Airlines places order for $1 billion worth of eVTOL aircraft

Jason Pritchard10 February 2021

eVTOL aircraft developer Archer has gone public in a SPAC merger deal with Atlas Crest Investment Corp, at a valuation of $3.8 billion. The deal, which sees Archer become the third eVTOL aircraft unicorn alongside Joby Aviation and Lilium, is ex...

Production work begins on building Bye Aerospace’s all-electric eFlyer 2 aircraft

Jason Pritchard2 February 2021

Bye Aerospace has confirmed that production has now started on Serial #001 of its two-seat all-electric eFlyer 2 aircraft, with the company also in the process of obtaining FAA Part-23 certification for professional flight training missions. Geor...

Pipistrel hosts first maintenance course on electric aircraft and plans to organise new date next month

Jason Pritchard19 January 2021

Pipistrel has obtained the right to train Part-66 licenced aircraft mechanics on how to maintain its Velis Electro - currently the world's only certified all-electric aircraft - and is planning to host a new course next month. The Slovenian-based...

SAMAD aerospace hits e‑Starling milestone with first flight of 50 per cent scale demonstrator

Jason Pritchard1 December 2020

SAMAD aerospace has conducted the first flight test of a half-scaled prototype of its e-Starling business aircraft, representing a key milestone as the company looks to commercialise the world's first eVTOL hybrid model. The CTOL flight test, whi...

Carlisle Interconnect Technologies to bring its high-voltage products to the advanced air mobility market

Jason Pritchard17 November 2020

Carlisle Interconnect Technologies (CIT) is offering its interconnect technologies for a host of next-generation air mobility applications, including all-electric aircraft for Advanced Air Mobility. The company designs and manufacturers high...

Korean company Aerospace9 invests in Bye Aerospace and also places order for 300 electric aircraft

Jason Pritchard5 November 2020

Seoul-based Aerospace9 has agreed to buy 300 of Bye Aerospace's all- electric aircraft and will also invest an undisclosed amount into the company. In an announcement made earlier this week, the aircraft order for Aerospace9 includes 150 two-seat...

Bye Aerospace selects Aviation Safety Resources to develop parachute recovery system for eFlyer2

Jason Pritchard1 September 2020

Bye Aerospace has selected Kentucky-based Aviation Safety Resources (ASR) to supply whole aircraft recovery parachutes systems for its eFlyer2 aircraft. Under the terms of the agreement, ASR will design, prototype, test and deliver a recovery sys...

Retired US Air Force Colonel appointed to Bye Aerospace’s Board of Directors

Jason Pritchard21 August 2020

Bye Aerospace has appointed Colonel Rod Zastrow (USAF, Ret.), a senior international pilot and maintenance training executive, to its Board of Directors. Zastrow served in the US Air Force for 26 years and began his career as an F-15 air superior...

Skyborne Airline Academy goes electric thanks to eFlyer order from Bye Aerospace

Jason Pritchard13 August 2020

Bye Aerospace has now reached 360 paid purchase deposits for its eFlyer family of all-electric aircraft, after Skyborne Airline Academy completed purchase deposits for six eFlyer 2s and four eFlyer 4s. They will be added to Skyborne's current fle...

Wisk brings in additional experience with new Senior VP of Engineering

Jason Pritchard4 August 2020

Wisk has added more industry experience to the company with the appointment of Boeing NeXt's former Chief Engineer Eric Johnson, who joins as Senior Vice President of Engineering. As well as joining Wisk's Executive Leadership team, Johnson will ...

Bye Aerospace Founder and CEO George Bye gives his thoughts on the industry in latest podcast

Jason Pritchard30 July 2020

The latest episode in our series of podcasts about the aviation and urban air mobility markets is now live! This week's guest is George E. Bye, CEO and Founder of electric aircraft manufacturer Bye Aerospace. George talks about his love for aviat...

Pipistrel and Green Motion to develop charging infrastructure for electric aircraft and UAM market

Jason Pritchard29 July 2020

Pipistrel is to work with electric vehicle charging system developer Green Motion and create charging infrastructure for electric aircraft. The small aircraft manufacturer says the system will create 'a worldwide standard in electric plane chargi...

First flight demo of VoltAero’s hybrid-electric powertrain for Cassio aircraft announced

Jason Pritchard24 June 2020

VoltAero will perform the first demonstration flight of its 800hp, hybrid-electric powertrain for its 10-seater Cassio aircraft in a live internet webcast next month. The presentation will take place at the Aérodrôme de Royan-Médis in France on 2...

Honeywell unveils lighter, more efficient cooling system for UAM and electric aircraft

Jason Pritchard22 June 2020

Honeywell has unveiled a new thermal management system which has been specifically designed for air taxi, vertical-takeoff and electric aircraft. The Micro Vapor Cycle System (MicroVCS) is a lightweight, low-maintenance and energy-efficient, and ...