Companies embrace potential of electric aircraft propulsion

Although Airbus is the most involved of the two civil aerospace giants in developing electric aircraft, it was not the first in the space. That honour goes to Boeing, which started its foray into electric aircraft propulsion in 2012 with a project called SUGARVolt (SUGAR – Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research).

SUGARVolt is in fact a hybrid concept, with dual turbine engines running on conventional jet fuel for take-off and then switching to electrical power at cruise altitude. To account for the reduced thrust in electric mode, the design incorporates features to enhance flight efficiency: a braced, high-aspect wing (mounted atop the fuselage) with a wide span and a narrow, turbulence-reducing width, designed to fold at the tips to allow the aircraft access to standard gates at airports.

Intended for first flight in the mid-2030s, SUGARVolt is currently on a hiatus, with Boeing now throwing its weight behind a third-party project. The company announced in April this year that it was investing, through a new venture capital arm called HorizonX, in a Washington State-based company called Zunum that was developing a range of regional hybrid-electric aircraft, with capacities for 10-50 passengers and ranges of 700-1,000 miles (1,100-1,600km). Also investing in Zunum is a subsidiary of the US short-haul budget airline JetBlue Airways.