The World's Largest Electric Aircraft Takes Flight
Happy Friday folks!
Heart Aerospace flew its X1 demonstrator on Wednesday out of Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York.
A piloted test flight. Taxi, takeoff, climb, maneuvering, landing. All under an FAA experimental airworthiness certificate.
The all-electric propulsion system delivered more than a megawatt. At 25,000 pounds and a 106-foot wingspan, X1 is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown.
It soared for 27 minutes. Heart says the electricity cost ~$5.
Fill the same 27 minutes with Jet A, and you’re looking at roughly 64 gallons. So I went and checked the costs around the country.
Los Angeles is the cheapest of the four markets, and it’s still 111x more expensive.
The company projects operating costs may be 40% less than legacy regional aircraft.
Innovation at its finest.
X1 is a demonstrator for the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner chasing FAA Part 25 certification, with entry into service slated for 2031. United, Air Canada and JSX are on the order book.
