SAO JOSE DO CAMPOS, Brazil—Embraer is to cooperate on research into aircraft electric propulsion with WEG, a Brazilian manufacturer of electric drivetrains for vehicles.
The cooperation will include flight tests in 2020 of an EMB-203 Ipanema single-engine agricultural aircraft modified into an electric propulsion testbed.
The cooperation will involve pre-competitive research and development to adapt WEG’s electric drivetrain experience to aircraft propulsion. Embraer says electric propulsion has the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of aviation, and enable new configurations and new market segments.
Under the agreement, the companies plan laboratory testing of an electric drivetrain followed by integration onto the Ipanema for testing in a real operating environment. Embraer has indicated that hybrid-electric propulsion is a potential option for a regional aircraft now under study.
Embraer is the latest manufacturer to announce an electric propulsion demonstrator aircraft. Airbus, with Rolls-Royce and Siemens, plans to modify an Avro RJ regional jet to flight-test a 2-megawatt hybrid-electric propulsion system in 2021. United Technologies Corp. is modifying a Bombardier Dash 8 Q100 regional turboprop into a testbed for a 2-megawatt hybrid propulsion system for flight in 2022. Several startups are converting smaller aircraft to electric power.
Embraer also is working on an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicle under an agreement with Uber’s Elevate aerial ridesharing initiative. Airbus is flying two eVTOL demonstrators, Vahana and CityAirbus, while Boeing company Aurora Flight Sciences has flown the eVTOL Personal Air Vehicle.