Airbus and Rolls-Royce have jointly cancelled the E-Fan X Demonstrator project.
The E-Fan X programme was launched to experiment with electric aviation which used a BAE Systems Avro RJ100 with a hybrid engine. It was originally scheduled to take flight in 2021.
As Airbus puts it:
The E-Fan X is a complex hybrid-electric aircraft demonstrator. In the test aircraft, one of the four jet engines will be replaced by a 2MW electric motor, which is roughly equivalent to that of 10 medium-sized cars. The electric propulsion unit is powered by a power-generation system and battery. When high power is required—at take-off, for example—the generator and battery supply energy together.
As they “navigate the realities of a post-COVID-19 world” and in order to “re-focus all of our efforts on technology bricks that will take us there”, the two companies have decided to cancel the project.
However, they will remain dedicated to sustainable aviation and decarbonizing the aviation industry.
Despite cancelling the project, the companies have learned “rich insights for the future, including:”
Do does that mean it will be like a car where at low speeds, such as taxi, it would be powered by a battery and when at higher speeds it would be a regular fuel powered aircraft?
Yeah to me that would make the most amount of sense. It could probably recharge the battery at the gate via outlet or allow for “regenerative braking” as they say with electric cars that maybe as it descends, can use the wind to spin the fan blades to recharge almost as wind mills. Either way it sucks to see this project go. I was really curious to see what this aircraft was capable of.
That’s a very polite way to describe a project…
Thanks for sharing the news, but that’s bad news story as the project was a really nice idea in my opinion. I really hope we’ll see a relaunch at some point!
