Nimbus Aerospace, a U.S. start-up planning to introduce an electric business jet, has flown a one-tenth-scale demonstrator aircraft for the first time. The Seattle-based company is targeting a range of about 1,000 nm for the six-passenger N1000 aircraft, which it said could enter service in 2032.

According to Nimbus, the 1-minute 23-second test flight on December 4 validated its proprietary airframe design and distributed electric propulsion system, which uses ducted fans mounted on top of a fixed wing. The company said it built the demonstrator in less than a month using bespoke and off-the-shelf components.

The Nimbus engineering team is now analyzing data from that flight and preparing to build a subsequent quarter-scale demonstrator that could be ready to fly in 2025. The first full-scale N1000 prototype is expected to be ready for flight testing in 2029.

The projected range of the Nimbus 1000 is significantly longer than other battery-electric fixed-wing aircraft now in development, such as Eviation's Alice. The start-up has not published details of the planned propulsion system beyond posting images showing two sets of seven fan engines installed on the upper surface of long-thin wings. French start-up Beyond Aero is working on plans for a hydrogen-electric business jet with a four-passenger range of 800 nm.

Nimbus Aerospace CEO Adrian Groos co-founded the company in 2023 with chief technology officer Akim Niyonzima, who previously worked as an engineer with Bombardier. The team has raised $120,000 from the Techstars accelerator program and another $50,000 from investment firm Chisos Capital. Earlier this year, Nimbus leased a hangar at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona to serve as its engineering base.

Groos believes that electric business jets such as the N1000 can provide a more sustainable form of air transportation while also making private aviation more affordable. The company plans to certify the jet for single-pilot operations.

“Private jets are between five and 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial airplanes, making them the most environmentally harmful form of transportation,” he said. “To meet the industry’s net-zero carbon emissions goals by 2050, thousands of new and sustainable private aircraft will be needed over the coming decades.”