Consortium Flies Hybrid-Electric Airplane Prototypes

Under the guidance of Pipistrel’s Vertical Solutions, a consortium in the European Union have concluded a project designed to advance alternative propulsion and regional air transport.

Julie Boatman

Thursday, November 04, 2021 at 04:27 PM ET

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The program displayed the Pipistrel Panthera flown in October to demonstrate the prototype hybrid-electric powerplant in a light single-engine airplane. Joze Kovacic-JUICE

Key Takeaways:

The MAHEPA project, led by Pipistrel and a European consortium, successfully developed and in-flight demonstrated advanced modular hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion systems for regional air transport.
Key achievements included a 50% increase in power output and 25% weight reduction for propulsion components, showcased on two demonstrator aircraft, the Pipistrel Panthera and H2Fly Hy4.
The project's modular design and scalable technology aim to enable a new generation of near-zero-emission regional aircraft, like 19-seat "miniliners," to efficiently connect sub-regional areas and utilize existing GA airports.

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Under the guidance of Pipistrel’s Vertical Solutions, a consortium of eight partners in the European Union have concluded a project designed to advance alternative propulsion and regional air transport.

Its name speaks literally to what the project has achieved: MAHEPA (Modular Approach to Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Architecture) brought together DLR-German Aerospace Center, H2Fly GmbH, Compact Dynamics GmbH, Politecnico di Milano, TU Delft, and researchers from University of Ulm and University of Maribor under the umbrella Horizon Europe.