Wright Electric

Wright Electric
Private
Industry Aerospace
Founded 2016
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people
 Jeff Engler
(CEO)
Products Electric aircraft
Number of employees
 10 (Oct 2017)
Website weflywright.com

Wright Electric is a startup company aiming to create a commercial airliner that runs on batteries and can handle flights under 300 miles.[1] It will feature high aspect ratio wings for energy efficient flight, distributed electric aircraft propulsion and swappable battery packs with advanced cell chemistry.[2] The 10-person Los Angeles based startup was founded in 2016 and has received venture capital from groups such as Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.[3] The company is named after the Wright brothers.[4] Wright publishes a monthly newsletter on sustainable aviation, the Weport.

In September 2017, UK budget carrier EasyJet announced it was developing an electric 180-seater for 2027 with Wright Electric.[5] Wright Electric built a two-seat proof-of-concept with 272kg (600lb) of batteries, and believes that batteries can be scaled up with substantially lighter new battery chemistries: a 291 nautical mile (540km) range would suffice for 20% of Easyjet passengers.[6] Wright Electric plans to develop a 10-seater and eventually an at least 120 passengers single-aisle, short-haul airliner and targets 50% lower noise and 10% lower costs.[7]

To evaluate electric propulsion systems, two test stands were constructed: one with two 250 kW UQM motors and two Hartzell Propellers, built with Yates Electrospace, the other on a 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) trailer to be brought to high altitude test sites.

Jetex, a Dubai fixed-base operator with 30 bases, invested in the company in May 2018.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Josh Constine (Mar 21, 2017). "Wright Electric unveils its commercial electric plane business". TechCrunch.
  2. ↑ "Wright Electric".
  3. ↑ Samantha Masunaga (Sep 27, 2017). "This L.A. electric plane startup is working with EasyJet to develop electric jetliners". LA Times.
  4. ↑ Engler, Jeffrey (2015-09-17). "WRIGHT WEEKLY WEPORT SEPT 17 2015". Wright Electric blog.
  5. ↑ Victoria Moores (Sep 27, 2017). "EasyJet joins electric aircraft project". Aviation Week Network.
  6. ↑ Dominic Perry (27 September 2017). "EasyJet unveils short-haul electric aircraft ambition". Flightglobal.
  7. ↑ Monaghan, Angela (27 September 2017). "EasyJet says it could be flying electric planes within a decade". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  8. ↑ Murdo Morrison (25 May 2018). "Jetex to help power up electric aircraft developer". Flightglobal.
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