Cassio 600, with a 10-seat capacity and hybrid-electric propulsion power of 600 kilowatts. VoltAero is taking electric aircraft to an entirely new level. In coming years a new generation of electric and hybrid-electric airplanes — including “electroliners” capable of carrying 100 or more passengers — will take to the skies. Hybrid-electric aircraft developer VoltAero’s forthcoming Cassio aircraft is to be one of the options available to users of an app-based on demand air taxi network being developed in the USA called KinectAir. Hybrid-electric plane to hit market in 2022 Posted on October 10, 2017 by Times of News Zunum Aero’s hybrid-electric aircraft, due to enter service in 2022, is seen in this artist’s rendering released on October 5, 2017. Cassio aircraft will be produced at a purpose-built final assembly line in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of southwest France, with VoltAero leading a world-class team of partners and suppliers.
Benefitting from 50-plus years of combined pioneering expertise, VoltAero is developing Cassio, a truly unique general aviation airplane family for safe, quiet, efficient and eco-friendly flight in hybrid-electric and electric modes. Hybrid-electric aircraft developer VoltAero’s forthcoming Cassio aircraft is to be one of the options available to users of an app-based on demand air taxi network being developed in the USA called KinectAir.
(Photo:Zunum Aero via REUTERS) VoltAero is taking electric aircraft to an entirely new level. On the hybrid electric front, Los Angeles-based Ampaire is leading the charge. In June, the company publicly tested its Electric EEL for the first time, thus putting the highest-capacity hybrid electric passenger plane in the air to date.. The Bio-Electric Hybrid Aircraft (BEHA) M1H will feature a 1600hp hybrid turboprop-powered aircraft capable of flying 20 passengers or three LD3 containers, capable of lifting five tonnes of payload. A BAe 146 test aircraft with one of its four jet engines replaced by a 2.5MW motor was due to embark on its first flight in 2021. Now though, researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, have partnered with Boeing to test what they say is the first hybrid-electric aircraft. In the test aircraft, one of the four jet engines was slated to be replaced by a 2MW electric motor. By May 2018, there were over 30 projects, and short-haul hybrid-electric airliners were envisioned from 2032. In these planes, propulsion is provided by batteries and electric motors alongside traditional combustion systems.
Hybrid-electric airplanes will use fuel-powered engines and batteries to drive electric propellers, or use electrically driven propellers alongside conventional turboprop or jet engines.
Featuring a sleek, aerodynamically optimized design, Cassio will fly at 200 knot-cruise speeds (360 kilometers per hour) out to flight ranges of 800 miles (1,300 kilometers). Benefitting from 50-plus years of combined pioneering expertise, VoltAero is developing a truly unique general aviation airplane family, Cassio, for safe, quiet, efficient and eco-friendly flight in hybrid-electric and electric modes.