The Bavarian electric aircraft company Lilium has closed a financing round for more than 240 million dollars. The Chinese internet giant Tencent led the round. Other previous investors including Atomico, Freigeist and LGT also participated.
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The Chinese manufacturer Ehang has received an operating license for its electric two-seater passenger drone Ehang 216 (eVTOL) from Norway. According to Ehang, this is the first operational permit for test flights with the model in Europe.
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Within the framework of the FutPrInt50 research project coordinated by the University of Stuttgart, an international consortium aims to identify and drive forward technologies that will enable the commercial use of a hybrid-electric aircraft with up to 50 seats by 2035/40.
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The French startup VoltAero launched the maiden flight of its first hybrid aircraft. The prototype, called Cassio 1, is based on a Cessna 337 Skymaster and comes equipped with two electric motors from Safran and a thrust propeller with combustion engine from Nissan.
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The aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel from Slovenia has just signed an MoU with Australia’s Eyre to There Aviation for the rights to manufacture Pipistrel’s small e-plane Alpha in Australia. The agreement would make Eyre to There the first Australian company to build an electric aircraft.
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The electric air taxi manufacturer Volocopter gained a new shareholder: DB Schenker is joining the company founded in 2011. The participation of the rail logistics subsidiary is part of the third round of financing, which has brought the company a further 87 million euros.
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Swedavia, the state-owned Swedish airport operator, has adopted a strategy for electric aviation. The aim is to prepare all ten airports in Sweden for electric-powered aircraft and to have the first commercial e-airline operating by around 2025.
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Electric aircraft company Wisk hopes to start the first trials carrying passengers in its VTOL in New Zealand as it signed a letter of intent with the government. The company is now pushing ahead with its production and commercialisation plans together with Boeing.
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The electric aircraft start-up Wright Electric has started to develop the electric propulsion system for a 186-seat electric aircraft called Wright 1. Specifically, this involves a 1.5 MW electric motor and a 3-kilovolt inverter.
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The Californian aviation company Joby has raised $590 million in series C financing to launch their air taxi service. The funding will go into the development and commercialization of Joby’s five seated VTOL.
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The electric vehicle retrofitter eCap Mobility and the microlight aircraft manufacturer Breezer Aircraft want to develop a fuel cell drive that can be retrofitted to single-engine aircraft. However, the focus is more on single-seat sports aircraft than on the electrification of commercial planes.
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At the CES this year, Hyundai and Uber have announced their cooperative effort to build air taxis to be used on the Uber platform Elevate. The two companies also presented the S-A1, a prototype for such an electrically powered vertical take-off aircraft.
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With the combined efforts of Rolls-Royce and ACCEL, the electric plane that is supposed to break the speed record for e-planes has progressed. The design of the plane has now been presented – the date for the attempt is looming in spring 2020.
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In Canada, cooperation partners MagniX and Harbour Air have announced the successful maiden flight of an all-electric seaplane. The two companies aim to electrify Harbour Air’s 42-strong fleet successively.
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The British company BAE Systems and the US American Jaunt Air Mobility have agreed to cooperate in the development of energy management systems for electric flight taxis.
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The Airbus-backed air racing tournament Air Race E unveiled the first racing e-plane at the Dubai Air Show. The ‘White Lightning’ is built by Condor Aviation based in the UK.
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NASA presented an early version of its X-57 Maxwell all-electric passenger aircraft. The electric aircraft is based on the Tecnam P2006T twin-engine propeller aircraft, in which the combustion engines have been replaced by 14 electric motors. The first test flight is scheduled for the end of 2020.
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The Australian company Electro.Aero has developed a DC charging solution especially for electric aircraft. The portable Electro.Aero Charger Rapid 30 delivers a charging power of up to 30 kW. The first customer is the US aircraft company Ampaire.
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Volocopter has completed the first manned test flight with their 2X electric aircraft in Singapore. The pilot covered a distance of approx. 1.5 km at an average height of 40 meters.
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The Munich-based German startup Lilium has published new images of its all-electric Lilium jet on the occasion of the now completed first phase of flight tests. The vertical take-off aircraft (VTOL) now flies increasingly complex manoeuvres at speeds over 100 km/h. The new Lilium Jets are now available in a variety of different models.
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According to a media report, Audi has discontinued work on the autonomous electric car drone Pop Up Next, which was presented last year together with Airbus and Italdesign, and intends to reevaluate their cooperation with Airbus.
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Porsche and Boeing signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore what they consider the market for urban air mobility (UAM). As part of the partnership, the companies will create an international team to gather insight on new mobility applications.
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Kamag presents the new E-Catering Wiesel (ECW) at the Inter Airport Europe trade show. According to the manufacturer, the catering vehicle for loading and unloading commercial aircraft is the first to have an electro-hydraulic drive with no harmful emissions and also speaks of “unrivalled range”.
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Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Finnair have joined other partners including Icelandair in the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation (NEA). The partners aim to jointly expand knowledge and cooperation.
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EasyJet plans to deploy plug-in hybrid aircraft on its routes between Amsterdam and London airports within the next ten years. To achieve this, EasyJet is cooperating with Airbus and Wright Electric.
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The German airport taxi start-up Volocopter has secured 50 million euros in a new financing round led by the Chinese Geely Group. The new funds will be used to bring Volocopter’s electric aircraft to commercial launch within the next three years.
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Quantum Air of Los Angeles has ordered 26 small electric aircraft from Bye Aerospace. This includes 22 units of the four-seater eFlyer 4, two two-seater eFlyer 2 and two electric planes still in development.
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The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer converts its agricultural plane EMB-203 Ipanema into a fully electric aircraft. Now the prototype has been presented, which will take off for its maiden flight next year.
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Volocopter has just revealed the design of its latest model VoloCity. This is the fourth generation of the electric VTOL from the German company – and the basis for the Volocopter’s planned air taxi service.
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Electric wing end propulsion can simplify the control of aircraft in the future. At least this is the conclusion drawn after the first crewed test flights of the “icaré wtp” solar plane equipped with two electric wingtip propellers (wtp).
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