Heart Aerospace invited us to their hangar just outside Gothenburg for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at their Heart X1 demonstrator aircraft & some other cool tech. From innovative design features to revolutionary tech shaping the future of hybrid and electric aviation, we got up close with the team driving this game-changing project.
Heart Aerospace was founded back in 2019, and their mission is to decarbonize and democratize air travel. In other words, they want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and make something thatās accessible to everyone.
Airlines these days are doing their utmost to improve their carbon footprint, like better route planning, using biofuels, purchasing newer aircraft with more efficient engines, and more. But, in reality, this still isnāt enough.
Every single day, thousands of aircraft around the world burn astronomical amounts of fuel, and one of the ways to combat carbon emissions is to add electricity into the mix. Thatās precisely what heart aerospace is doing by developing a hybrid-electric aircraft thatāll primarily operate regional routes that are less than 200km long with just the electric motors! ā”ļø
Join us as we go backstage and find out more about this exciting project:
What a wonderful video Dan! Electric Aircraft is truly the future of Aviation. We all have to do our parts on improving our carbon footprints: whether that be driving an Electric Vehicle, flying non-stop, or biking instead of driving!
I think the future of sustainable flight is using totally alternative technologies (like hydrogen or electricity) to power planes. But, realistically, the technology isnāt quite there to make it a good deal for airlines. I think that the immediate solution is sustainable aviation fuels. According to Airbus, On average, SAF can reduce CO2 emissions by 80% compared to traditional jet fuel. Thatās a huge, huge deal, but not perfect.
Thereās also the fact that even electric planes would still have a fairly significant impact on the environment and people. For example, if youāre getting power from a coal plant, the more power you use, the more coal thatās going to be burned, and thatās a huge CO2 emitter. Ideally, before we go all in on electric planes, the rest of the world should be moving towards sustainable/renewable energy infrastructure, like wind, solar, or nuclear. Building the planes is another problem. Like anything electric, it requires a lithium ion battery. One of the major components is cobalt, the mining of which often takes place in abhorrent conditions using child labor and exploitation in the Congo.
So thereās no perfect solution, but I think this is a great step in the right direction.
No complaints about a new aircraft but IF have been firm in their stance of not releasing aircraft/liveries which are yet to fly, however, they have (assumedly) developed an aircraft which isnāt even certified, let alone flying. Both this post and the YouTube video also appear to be paid advertising, much like the other āexclusiveā videos of this plane which have all been coincidentally uploaded at the same time.
Iām jumping the gun and am likely completely wrong but just my two cents.
Speculative indeed. I can assure you that all of our exclusive content is not paid advertising. Theyāre mutual collabs.
Iām in charge of most the content content on our YouTube channel. The reason we do these things is because weāre more than just a flight sim; weāre a community full of passionate avgeeks who all share the same interest. Having the opportunity to collab with airlines and companies in the form of cool content for you all to enjoy is great, and itās part of my role here at Infinite Flight (community engagement). We value our community a lot, and we like to give back in ways that stretch beyond app updates.
