The airplane that Everett, Wash.-based magniX will use to test its hybrid electric propulsion system for a $74.3 million NASA demonstration project is ready to go on the outside, and it’ll soon be ready on the inside as well.
Today magniX and its partners unveiled the De Havilland Dash 7 plane at Seattle’s Boeing Field in preparation for its conversion for NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, or EPFD. The aircraft now bears the logos of magniX, NASA and Air Tindi, the Canadian regional carrier from which the Dash 7 was acquired.
“There’s a lot of work left to be done, but when you see the airplane, and you see the great livery and what’s behind it, it allows you to think about all of the really important work, all of the really hard work that’s gone on,” said Bob Pierce, NASA’s associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
The plane has already gone through baseline flight tests with its four standard Pratt & Whitney PT6A turbine engines — operating from Moses Lake, Wash., with technical assistance from Seattle-based AeroTEC. Meanwhile, magniX’s 650-watt electric motor has been tested at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio under conditions that simulate altitudes of up to 27,500 feet.
Now the project timeline calls for replacing two of the PT6A engines with magni650 electric motors, one at a time, and installing magniX’s 450-kWh Samson battery packs. Flight tests with the hybrid electric system are due to begin in 2026.
MagniX CEO Reed Macdonald said the EPFD project is aimed at demonstrating the economic and environmental advantages of electric propulsion. MagniX has said a hybrid propulsion system could yield a fuel savings of up to 40% on a typical regional flight of 200 miles.
The company is already working with Vancouver, B.C.-based Harbour Air on a project that involves converting De Havilland Beaver seaplanes to electric power. “We look forward to being the leader and the first to make electric commercial flight a reality,” he said.
Electric-powered airplanes could make a big difference for communities that aren’t currently well-served by air routes. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that in many communities, it’s really hard to get access to aviation,” Macdonald said.
Air Tindi is likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries. Its 50-passenger Dash 7 Combi planes serve as the company’s workhorses on routes in northern Canada. “We’re looking forward to the hybrid Dash 7 coming north, all the way north to the Northwest Territories,” Air Tindi President Chris Reynolds said.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., congratulated magniX and NASA for starting the next phase of the EPFD project. Her office said the EPFD project will help create 50 more jobs at magniX’s Everett HQ and the Moses Lake testing site.
“Electric aircraft technologies developed by Everett-based magniX and Seattle-based AeroTEC and tested in Moses Lake represent another promising chapter of aerospace innovation built and made possible in the state of Washington,” Cantwell said in a news release. “This NASA project aims to scale up electric battery technology so it can power passenger planes. Today’s announcement brings us another step closer to enabling cleaner, lower-cost, and energy-efficient regional flights that will better connect small and rural communities in Washington and across the nation.”
Macdonald said he expects MagniX’s converted Dash 7 to open up new vistas for electric aviation. “For us, the Dash 7 is not just another flight demonstrator,” he said. “It’s a key part of proving and maturing our technology, and overcoming those key barriers that still remain for entry into service by the end of the decade.”
https://ift.tt/6VFq8vj August 23, 2024 at 02:22AM GeekWire
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