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, successfully developed and in-flight demonstrated a modular hybrid-electric propulsion architecture for advancing zero-emission regional air transport.
Key achievements include a 50% increase in power to a 300 kW peak with lighter components, enabling all-electric takeoffs on two four-seat demonstrator aircraft.
The project aims for future scalability to "miniliner" and "microfeeder" aircraft (e.g., 19-seat, 350 km range) to enhance connectivity between regional and commercial airports.
H2Fly, a consortium partner, specifically advanced liquid hydrogen-electric power systems, achieving a 1,200 km range on its Hy4 aircraft and planning for megawatt-scale systems.

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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.