A Dutch company has announced plans to develop an electric plane capable of carrying 90 passengers. The company noted in its latest research paper that "large battery-electric aircraft can carry more energy and be more aerodynamically efficient than originally thought."
Startup Elysian unveiled its plans at SciTech 2024, the world's largest aerospace R&D event. The company says its newly designed E9X aircraft can seat more passengers and fly further than what is thought to be an electric aircraft. It can seat 90 people and fly 500 miles on a single charge, which is much better than current estimates for electric aircraft.
Officials said that Elysian's design adopts concepts such as span loading, low wing configuration and electric propulsion advantages. The E9X concept aircraft is a low-wing aircraft with a fuselage length of 9 feet 11 inches and a wingspan of 137.7 feet. The wingtips can be folded to support airport boarding bridges. It is also equipped with a battery with an energy density of 360Wh/kg.
According to FlightGlobal’s research, the batteries are strategically located in battery boxes in the wing to minimize wing root bending moments, thus reducing the weight of the wing structure. The E9X will be equipped with eight 12-foot thrusters, and a turbine generator in the rear fuselage will provide 45 minutes of additional power - which Elysian said is only a contingency reserve measure and not a range extender, which would make the aircraft a hybrid. The 35-ton battery and its packaging account for 46% of the E9X's maximum takeoff weight of 76 tons.
Elysian said there are still technical challenges that need to be solved before the E9X can become a reality, including shortening battery charging times, thermal management, propeller wing integration and the design and certification of backup energy systems. The company has partnered with the Universities of Twente and Delft, as well as the national aerospace research institutions of the Netherlands and Germany, to try to find solutions to these problems.
Daniel Rosen Jacobsen is Elysian's chief business officer and co-CEO with Rob Wolleswinkel. Elysian has raised $10 million so far, so there's still a long way to go, but the company believes the aircraft will be in service by 2033.
The aviation industry accounts for 2.5% of global emissions of carbon dioxide. As with cars, the hope is that switching to electric planes will bring huge environmental benefits. Elysian expects electric aircraft to be up to six times more energy efficient per passenger kilometer compared to other sustainable aircraft technologies.