After E-Fan X: civil aviation's electric dream lives on

When Rolls-Royce and Airbus jointly announced the cancellation of their E-Fan X hybrid electric aircraft project at the end of April it seemed fair to ask whether this was an early sign of the aerospace sector abandoning its much-touted low carbon ambitions in the face of a COVID-19 induced battle for survival.

But as Rolls-Royce engineer Riona Armesmith, who heads up the company’s hybrid electric projects, told The Engineer, whilst the experimental aircraft may not be taking to the skies as planned, the technologies developed and lessons learned through the initiative have positioned the UK firm at the forefront of a field that remains key to the sector’s future.

E-Fan X was originally launched in 2017 as part of a drive to explore how new technology could help reduce emissions and ensure that the sector can continue to grow whilst meeting a host of increasingly demanding environmental targets.