NASA and GE Aerospace in December hit a key milestone in their quest to develop hybrid-electric engine technology for the next decade of commercial aviation.
The partners on Tuesday revealed they began ground testing a hybrid engine demonstrator that is designed to burn 10 percent less fuel compared to best-in-class engines for single-aisle, narrowbody aircraft. NASA and GE had previously tested individual components and systems, but December marked the first time they brought everything together and put the modified GE Passport engine on a mount.
“We’re getting close to the payoff on work that’d been in progress for a long time,” said Anthony Nerone, manager of NASA’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project during the demonstrator’s development, in a news release.
HyTEC aims to leverage NASA’s resources to mature the hybrid engine technology, which the space agency believes could appear on commercial aircraft as soon as the 2030s. As part of the effort, it developed a compact engine core that is designed to improve fuel efficiency while providing the same thrust as single-aisle aircraft engines.
The high-bypass commercial turbofan engine is powered by GE’s electric motor and generators, with the assistance from electric power allowing it to use less jet fuel. It is designed to work with or without batteries or other energy storage systems.
Per NASA, the engine “extract[s] energy from some of its operations and insert[s] that supplementary power into other parts.” Similarly, some commercial hybrid-electric concepts—such as Electra’s EL9 or VoltAero’s Cassio—rely on electric power for takeoff and landing but use a gas turbine to recharge their batteries during the less demanding cruise phase.
“Turbines already exist. Compressors already exist,” said Nerone. “But there is no hybrid-electric engine flying today. And that’s what we were able to see.”
NASA and GE conducted the test at the latter’s Peebles Test Operation site in Cincinnati. GE said it demonstrated power injection, extraction, and transfer and exceeded performance benchmarks that NASA developed with private sector input. The space agency described the test as “successful” and estimated it to be one of the most complex demonstrations GE has ever undertaken.
“They had to integrate equipment they’ve never needed for previous tests like this,” said Laura Evans, acting HyTEC project manager.
NASA said the partners will analyze test data and work toward a compact engine test later this decade. In 2024, it predicted that would happen by 2028.
“This will be the first mild hybrid-electric engine and could lead to the first production engine for narrowbody airliners that’s hybrid electric,” Nerone said at the time.
NASA earlier this month also completed high-speed taxi testing of a scale model test article for a wing that is designed to reduce drag through laminar flow—another efficiency-minded technology. The space agency is studying an array of future aviation technologies—from hybrid-electric propulsion to uncrewed traffic management (UTM) systems—alongside other government and commercial partners.
GE’s Hybrid Ambitions
GE has produced conventional engines since the early 20th century. But in the future, it will look to sell megawatt-class, hybrid-electric power systems for military and commercial single-aisle aircraft, offering improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. The company in 2021 committed to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.
The company said December’s test supports its efforts under RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines)—a technology demonstrator project it coleads with Safran Aircraft Engines through Safran’s CFM International venture. More than 2,000 engineers are working on the program, which aims to achieve fuel savings of 20 percent.
Unveiled in 2021, the RISE demonstrator has completed more than 350 tests of open fan engine systems, hybrid-electric propulsion, and technology for compact engine cores—like the HyTEC demonstrator’s, but also compatible with hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). GE said it is performing aircraft and engine integration and will target ground and flight testing this decade.
Much of the company’s electric and hybrid testing takes place at the University of Dayton in Ohio, where it has poured nearly $100 million into a 138,000-square-foot research and development hub. It also has several demonstrators that are designed to test the integration of electrical power systems with turboshaft, turboprop, and turbofan gas engines.
Beyond HyTEC, GE is working with NASA, Boeing, and other partners such as BAE Systems toward ground and flight tests of a hybrid-electric powertrain by 2030. A $197 million NASA contract will support installation of GE’s CT7-9B turboprop on a Saab 340B testbed, modified by Boeing with a nacelle, flight deck software, and other integrations. NASA aims to introduce the technology to commercial aviation fleets by 2035.
The U.S. Army is exploring GE’s hybrid engines through its Applied Research Collaborative Systematic Turboshaft Electrification Project (ARC-STEP), which conducted an initial demonstration in late 2024. GE under a $5.1 million contract will research, develop, and test a megawatt-class, electrified powerplant to gauge how it would perform on military rotorcraft.
The CT7 turboshaft and GE’s electric motor and generator will also be integrated on Sikorsky’s Hybrid-Electric eXperimental (HEX) demonstrator—planned as a precursor to a scaled-up commercial model.
GE felt confident enough in the prospect of hybrid-electric passenger transport to make a $300 million investment in Beta Technologies, which is developing two electric aircraft. Combining its CT7, T700, and other engine systems with Beta’s permanent magnet electric generators, it will look to develop a hybrid-electric turbogenerator for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft—including Beta’s—and other advanced air mobility (AAM) applications.
