Tesla is taking wheeled transport by an electric storm. But why stop at the road? The electrification of transport does not need to stay put on terra firma which is why now, it is taking to the skies.

One of the many companies taking a flying leap into the world of EVs with wings is Wright Electric. Founded in 2016, the sustainable-award-winning company first launched the Wright 1, a 186-seat aircraft with a 300nmi (560km) range. The announcement for this plane happened in January 2020, and Wright Electric plans to enter it into service in 2030. Ground testing is planned in 2021 and flight testing in 2023.

Unlike a car that can run of charge and come to a standstill on the side of a road, airplanes need to make sure to have enough juice to safely land. Falling out of the sky is not an option with airplanes, electric or otherwise. So the more the testing, the safer the airplane.

And now Wright has announced another feather in its proverbial tail, a new electric-aircraft, called the Wright Spirit. And this is why it has the world all excited about it.

Meet The Wright Spirit

British Aerospace BAe 146 easyJet
Via: Flickr

The Wright Spirit is a 100-passenger electric airliner for smaller, one-hour flights. It comes with four megawatt-class motors and the design is based on the BAe 146 platform, known for operation from noise-sensitive airports.

The BAe 146 comes equipped with 4 jet engines and Wright plans to replace them with electric engines. The replacement and testing will happen in a stagged manner. For now, the prototype will be tested with only one electric motor and three conventional engines. The second stage of testing with two electric motors will begin in 2024 and the Wright Spirit will be a fully electric aircraft by 2026.

Another reason for choosing the BAe 146 is that this airplane is known for being able to climb steeply, making it ideal to be used in airports where noise is a concern.

The idea of no-emission, low-noise one-hour flights can help busy airports curb congestion and pollution. Wright says the Spirit would come in handy in the world’s busiest airport pairs such as Seoul-Jeju, London-Paris, Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo, and San Francisco-Los Angeles.

Related: Rolls-Royce's First All-Electric Aircraft Makes Monumental First Flight

The Idea Behind Electric Airplanes

Bye Aerospace 8-Seat eFlyer 800 All-Electric Aircraft
Via: ByeAerospace

Jeff Engler, the CEO of Wright Electric Inc says, “aviation has committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but Wright is committed to a 100% reduction in all emissions starting in 2026.” And there are many such ventures like Bye Aerospace that announced an eight-seat all-electric airplane earlier this year.

He continued to add, “Because we built the world's largest aerospace propulsive powertrain, we can build the world's largest zero-emissions retrofit directly serving the world's busiest routes.” Wright’s first such announcement had come in 2020 when they began to develop their megawatt propulsion system for an all-electric commercial aircraft. In the last two years, Wright has been selling a high-efficiency, high-power-density inverter, and a 2,700-horsepower motor.

While it sounds the same, converting conventional airplanes into electric ones is much more complicated than what it takes to slowly wean people off ICEVs and move to EVs.

Jet fuel is very energy-dense and cheap as compared to gasoline, so replacing it with electric energy safely and cost-effectively is a toughie. For instance, the Wright 1, the planned 186-seater sounds easy on paper, but again is a challenging step for Wright Electric. The first step is to find light-weight batteries for at least 1-1.5 hours of flight, which correlates to hundreds of miles in the air.

Related: Move Over Tesla: NASA Is Making An Electric Plane

Energy Sources For Electric Airplanes

The Wright Spirit 100-Seat Electric Aircraft
Via: WrightElectric

For any aircraft to be viable, weight is a critical factor and comes into play when you start talking batteries. While lithium-ion batteries are light, they are not half as powerful as other alternative sources of electric energy such as hydrogen and aluminum.

The good thing is that both hydrogen and aluminum have higher-power potential. The catch is that they are heavier and bulkier. So the challenge is to use them for more power, but make them lighter, and that is exactly what Wright Electric and other winged-EV makers are trying to do.

Hydrogen is usually trickier, difficult to store, and burns with a colorless flame that is difficult to detect, causing safety concerns as well. Storing it at high altitudes becomes a bulky affair as well because you have to make sure you have enough fuel to make the flight, with extra in reserve in case of delayed or diverted landings.

Aluminum fuel cells are proving to be more promising for now, because handling it can be done the same way convention cargo is done. But again, to burn aluminum fuel cells, you need oxygen. And getting enough oxygen at high altitudes means more storage is needed, again adding to the weight and bulk of a plane.

The problems seem to be many but as Wright Electric and other EV-airplane start-ups are showing, they are not insurmountable. The time to act to save the planet is now, with clean and renewable fuel. And if Tesla is making waves on asphalt, Wright electric is rippling the sky, in a good way.

Sources: InsideEVs, CleanTechnica