The Anonymous Widower

Heart Aerospace Unveils New Airplane Design, Confirms Air Canada And Saab As New Shareholders

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Heart Aerospace.

These are the first two paragraphs of the press release.

Swedish electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace today unveiled significant design updates to its first electric aircraft and confirmed Air Canada, one of North America’s largest airlines and Saab, the Swedish aerospace and defense company, as new minority shareholders.

The new airplane design, called the ES-30, is a regional electric airplane with a capacity of 30 passengers and it replaces the company’s earlier 19-seat design, the ES-19. It is driven by electric motors powered by batteries, which allows the airplane to operate with zero emissions and low noise.

And this is a visualisation of the aircraft from Heart Aerospace..

It looks fairly normal, except that it has four electric engines instead of two turboprops.

This paragraph of the press release gives details of the engine configuration.

The airplane will also include a reserve-hybrid configuration, consisting of two turbo generators powered by sustainable aviation fuel. The reserve-hybrid system is installed to secure reserve energy requirements without cannibalizing battery range, and it can also be used during cruise on longer flights to complement the electrical power provided by the batteries.

Note.

1. The slightly larger Dash 8-100 aircraft seats just under forty and has 2.7 MW of installed power.
2. Rolls-Royce have a 2.5 MW hybrid turbo generator that runs on sustainable aviation fuel.
3. Honeywell have a similar smaller hybrid turbo generator, based on the auxiliary power unit of an Airbus A 350.

I’m sure that Heart can find the hybrid turbo-generators they need for the ES-30.

This paragraph of the press release gives details of the performance.

This gives the airplane a fully electric range of 200 kilometers, an extended range of 400 kilometers with 30 passengers, and flexibility to fly up to 800 kilometers with 25 passengers, all-inclusive of typical airline reserves.

Eight hundred kilometres is sufficient range to serve Bordeaux, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Inverness, Paris and Shannon airports from London City Airport.

The press release also discloses that the company has received 96 letters of intent for the aircraft and expects that the in-service date will be 2028.

I don’t think that the date is unreasonable.

September 17, 2022 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Electric Aircraft, Flying, Heart Aerospace, Heart Aerospace ES-30, Honeywell, Rolls-Royce 2.5 MW Generator, Sustainable Aviation Fuel