Aircraft powered directly by electricity, with no other engine needed
Part of a series on
Aircraft propulsion
Shaft engines: driving propellers, rotors, ducted fans or propfans
Internal thermal engines:
Piston engine
Diesel engine
Wankel engine
Turbines:
Turboprop
Turboshaft
External thermal engines:
Steam power
Electric motors:
Electric aircraft
Clockwork drives:
Human-powered
Reaction engines
Turbines:
Turbojet
Turbofan
Propfan
Rocket-powered
Air turborocket
Air-augmented rocket
Motorjet
Pulsejet
Valveless pulsejet
Gluhareff Pressure Jet
Aerospike engine
Pulse detonation engine
Rotating detonation engine
Ramjet
Scramjet
Shcramjet
v
t
e
An electric aircraft is an aircraft powered by electricity.
Electric aircraft are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of aviation, providing zero emissions and quieter flights.
Electricity may be supplied by a variety of methods, the most common being batteries.
Most have electric motors driving propellers or turbines.
Crewed flights in an electrically powered airship go back to the 19th century, and to 1917 for a tethered helicopter.
Electrically powered model aircraft have been flown at least since 1957, preceding the small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones used today. Small UAS could be used for parcel deliveries, and larger ones for long-endurance applications: aerial imagery, surveillance, telecommunications.
The first crewed free flight by an electrically powered aeroplane, the MB-E1, was made in 1973, and most crewed electric aircraft today are still only experimental prototypes. The world's first serially produced self-launching, manned electric aircraft with EASA type certification since 2006[1] and a patented wing-integrated battery system,[2] the Lange E1 Antares, completed its maiden flight in 1999; since 2004, more than 100 aircraft of this type have been delivered, totalling more than 165,000 electric flight hours to date (until 2022).[3]
Between 2015 and 2016, Solar Impulse 2 completed a circumnavigation of the Earth using solar power.
Electric VTOL aircraft or personal air vehicles are being considered for Urban Air Mobility.
Electric commercial airliners could lower operating costs.[4]: 1–7
^"EASA Aircraft Type Certificate Data Sheet – EASA-TCDS.A.092 Issue 4 – Lange E1 Antares" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-01-03.
^"Register information Patent DE file number : 195 12 816.8". German Patent & Trade Mark Office. 2011-05-27. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
^""The most electric flying hours in the world" – "We have more electric flight hours than all other companies and all other aircraft in the world combined." -Axel Lange, CEO Lange Aviation in conversation with Prof. Dr. Otto Künzel at the Berblingen Flight Forum 2022". Retrieved 2024-01-03.
^Cite error: The named reference ACRP-2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
An electricaircraft is an aircraft powered by electricity. Electricaircraft are seen as a way to reduce the environmental effects of aviation, providing...
This is a list of electricaircraft, whose primary flight power is electrical. "AHS - Sample Vertiflite article: Project Zero". Vtol.org. 2013-03-04....
A hybrid electricaircraft is an aircraft with a hybrid electric powertrain. As the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is much lower than aviation...
The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was...
General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, is an American aircraft engine supplier that is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati...
English ElectricAircraft (40%) merged with Vickers (40%) and Bristol (20%) to form British Aircraft Corporation. In 1968 English Electric's operations...
Technologies), General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and CFM International (a joint venture of Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric). Russian manufacturers...
include road and rail vehicles, electric boats and underwater vessels, electricaircraft and electric spacecraft. Early electric vehicles first came into existence...
The General Electric GE90 is a family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines built by GE Aerospace for the Boeing 777, with thrust ratings from 81,000...
The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The...
The General Electric J85 is a small single-shaft turbojet engine. Military versions produce up to 3,500 lbf (16 kN) of thrust dry; afterburning variants...
which require lead – are used on some newer light aircraft. Some non-polluting light electricaircraft are already in production. Another environmental...
An aircraft (pl.: aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static...
bomber aircraft led to many aircraft being produced by secondary manufacturers via licensed manufacturing arrangements. The English Electric company...
Aviation. General Electric. Retrieved 19 January 2022. "HAL signs contract worth Rs 5,375 crore for supply of engines for Tejas aircraft". The New Indian...
International CFM56 General Electric F110 General Electric F118 Comparable engines Kuznetsov NK-32 Related lists List of aircraft engines GE's F101 web page...
Lockheed U-2S reconnaissance aircraft. The F110 emerged from an intersection of efforts in the 1970s by General Electric to reenter the U.S. fighter engine...
The General Electric CF6, US military designations F103 and F138, is a family of high-bypass turbofan engines produced by GE Aviation. Based on the TF39...
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd...
The fuel economy in aircraft is the measure of the transport energy efficiency of aircraft. Fuel efficiency is increased with better aerodynamics and by...
General Electric T700 and CT7 are a family of turboshaft and turboprop engines in the 1,500–3,000 shp (1,100–2,200 kW) class. In 1967, General Electric began...
in this field, the ElectricAircraft Corporation, began offering engine kits to convert ultralight weight shift trikes to electric power. The 18 hp motor...
power aircraft systems such as the starting, air-conditioning and anti-ice systems. Both engines enable the move towards the More ElectricAircraft, that...
batteries and electric motors improved innovation and designs beginning in the late 2010s. Most UAM proponents envision that the aircraft will be owned...
Wright Electric is an American startup company developing an electric airliner. The aircraft is to run on batteries and handle flights of under 300 miles...
development General Electric J79 General Electric YJ93 Comparable engines Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Related lists List of aircraft engines FLIGHT International...
The General Electric F414 is an American afterburning turbofan engine in the 22,000-pound (98 kN) thrust class produced by GE Aerospace (formerly GE Aviation)...
manufacturer developing electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) and electric conventional take-off and landing (eCTOL) aircraft for the cargo, medical...
an aircraft's direction in flight. Aircraft engine controls are also considered flight controls as they change speed. The fundamentals of aircraft controls...