Modern Flying Photos

Airbus E-Fan: The Electric Aircraft

Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 09:42 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Airbus, through its subsidiary VoltAir, is developing the E-Fan prototype to test the possibilities of pure electric-powered flight.
Production models, including the E-Fan 2.0 (electric two-seater) and E-Fan 4.0 (hybrid-electric four-seater), are planned to be built at a new factory in France in the near future.
The E-Fan aircraft utilize electrically driven ducted fans for propulsion.
This project represents a significant investment for Airbus, valued for the knowledge gained in electric propulsion technology.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The Airbus hybrid is sexy, fast and coming soon.

Airbus subsidiary VoltAir has been flying this E-Fan prototype for a little over a year to test the possibilities for pure electric-powered flight.

In a few short years the E-Fan 2.0 electric two-seater and E-Fan 4.0 hybrid-electric four-seater will be built at a new factory in France. Read more about the new factory here.

As the name suggests, the E-Fan prototype (shown here) and production iteration will be powered by electrically driven ducted fans.

Here is an artist’s impression of the production iteration of the Airbus E-Fan.

At this point E-Fan is still a very big bet for Airbus, but knowledge gained about electric propulsion makes it a gamble worth taking.

For more on the E-Fan, read up about the advances in propulsion technology and its electric motor here.

A pilot for more than three decades, Craig Fuller is owner and CEO of FLYING parent company Firecrown Media.