2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Hanneke Weitering

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

$1.9 million contract funds first production-ready VH-3 prototype

USAF Funds VerdeGo's Hybrid Powerplant Development

Charles Alcock

The VH-4T will feature a Pratt & Whitney PW200 series turbine engine

VerdeGo Aero Unveils 400-kilowatt Hybrid-electric Propulsion System

Afwerx funds VerdeGo's 400-kW turbine generator development 

U.S. Air Force Backs VerdeGo’s VH-4T Hybrid-electric Powerplant

Raytheon Technologies is the lead investor in a $12 million Series A funding round for hybrid-electric propulsion specialist VerdeGo Aero. The U.S. group’s venture capital arm, RTX Ventures, announced the investment this week, saying the Florida-based start-up will collaborate with its aircraft engines subsidiary Pratt &amp; Whitney to develop propulsion systems for advanced air mobility (AAM) applications.
Last year, VerdeGo Aero introduced its <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-05-19/h55-supply-battery-system-pratt-whitneys-hybrid-electric-regional-aircraft">185-kW VH-3 generator</a>, which can be combined with various hybrid-electric configurations to deliver peak-burst power of up to 1MW and continuous power of up to 370 kW. The company’s propulsion systems have been selected for applications including <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-06-08/electra-and-airflow-join-forces-bring-estol-aircraft-family-market">Airflow’s eSTOL</a> aircraft, Jaunt Air Mobility’s <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2020-12-17/verdego-helps-jaunt-boost-range-hybrid-electric-generator">Journey eVTOL vehicle</a>, and XTI’s TriFan 600. 
According to VerdeGo Aero, the technology could possibly&nbsp;be scaled up to deliver&nbsp;a continuous electrical output of “multiple megawatts,” opening the potential to power larger aircraft, like those in the business aviation and airline sectors served by Pratt &amp; Whitney. The partnership is expected to provide support in efforts to develop and commercialize third-generation full-scale hybrid-electric powertrains.
“VerdeGo Aero is helping to pioneer the emerging field of hybrid-electric propulsion technology, which has an important role to play in enabling the aviation industry’s goal of reaching net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050,” said Pratt &amp; Whitney’s chief sustainability officer, Graham Webb. “This investment has promising potential to enhance our technology and capability in segments of our small-engine business while moving quickly and nimbly to advance our hybrid-electric propulsion strategy.”
In combination with the National Research Council of Canada and battery specialist H55, Pratt &amp; Whitney is already working on plans for a <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-05-19/h55-supply-battery-system-pratt-whitneys-hybrid-electric-regional-aircraft">hybrid-electric regional airliner</a>. It aims to start ground testing on a Dash 8 100 aircraft next year and to be ready for flight tests in 2024.
According to VerdeGo Aero CEO Eric Bartsch, the company, which was founded in 2017, seeks to convert existing aircraft engines into hybrid powerplants. With stronger capital reserves, the company is recruiting more engineers to join its team in Daytona Beach.
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Managing Editor

Raytheon Backs VerdeGo Aero for Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Alliance with Pratt & Whitney

VerdeGo Aero this week unveiled the hybrid-electric generator it is providing to power aircraft being developed by XTI, Airflow, and Jaunt Air Mobility. The U.S. company says the 185 kW VH-3-185 unit is the third generation of its hardware and is ready for certification and large-scale production.
The integrated powerplant includes an engine, generator/motor, power electronics, and cooling systems. The VH-3-185 can be installed as a single unit or as part of a pair of generators to deliver peak burst power of up to 1 MW and continuous power of up to 370 kW.
The VH-3 uses a diesel engine based on the SMA SR-305 unit that VerdeGo has previously certified for other hybrid power applications and it can run on existing jet-A fuel or new biofuels. According to the propulsion specialist, for some applications hybrid-electric aircraft will be able to carry sufficient fuel for multiple flights without having to refuel until they return&nbsp;to an operating base, overcoming the need to provide energy infrastructure at landing sites. The company says that the VH-3-185 provides aircraft manufacturers with between four and seven times as much endurance as&nbsp;current battery packs offer.
“The VH-3 hybrid system&nbsp;is to be designed to be compatible with the rationale for electrification, allowing airframers to develop hybrid-electric aircraft with mission capabilities that may not be available for 20 years in the battery-electric market while enabling compliance with Part 91 or Part 135 energy reserve requirements for safe flight planning,” said VerdeGo Aero CEO Eric Bartsch.
According to VerdeGo, its generator will be 40 percent more fuel efficient than a conventional aircraft turbofan or turboprop engine, or a turbine-hybrid powerplant with similar power output.
To take account of the different aircraft architectures envisaged by developers of eVTOL and eSTOL models, the VH-3 can be used in several powertrain configurations. These include:
<ul>
<li>Providing 185 kW of power to arrays of electric propulsion motors and/or onboard battery packs in a series-hybrid architecture</li>
<li>Directly driving propellers or rotors with up to 185 kW of shaft power from the diesel engine in a parallel-hybrid architecture</li>
<li>Operating the generator as a motor powered by an onboard battery pack to provide up to 185 kW while sending the balance of the power from the diesel engine to power distributed electrical power arrays, active aerodynamics, onboard systems, and/or battery packs</li>
<li>Operating in “burst power” mode, delivering the combined output of the diesel engine and the generator (operating as a motor powered by an onboard battery pack) for up to 370 kW of shaft power</li>
<li>Configurations requiring both electrical and mechanical output, for which an optional shaft power output is available</li>
</ul>
VerdeGo Aero was formed in 2017 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, close to the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The company has already started joint engineering work with aircraft developers who have selected it as a propulsion system partner.
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VerdeGo Aero Unveils VH-3 Generator For Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Powertrains

Propulsion specialist VerdeGo Aero is partnering with eVTOL developer Jaunt Air Mobility to explore plans to develop a hybrid-electric aircraft. The U.S. companies are aiming to use VerdeGo’s hybrid-electric diesel generator system with the same battery pack Jaunt is using for its all-electric Jaunt Journey design.
In a December 16 announcement, Jaunt indicated that it is exploring hybrid-electric alternatives as a way to deliver longer range than that anticipated for the Journey passenger aircraft (80 miles), and also the planned Geap (cargo), Joust (military), and Jambulance (emergency medical) variants. The Texas-based company has not specified a range target for the new aircraft but did refer to the U.S. Air Force’s declared requirement to be able to make trips of at least 100 miles.
“While confident in the battery-electric Jaunt Journey for the urban air mobility market, our customers also have different operational mission requirements,” said Jaunt Air Mobility CEO Martin Peryea. “VerdeGo’s system offers a unique bridge to meeting those demands.”
Florida-based VerdeGo’s generator&nbsp;is intended to run on standard Jet-A fuel. The company says the propulsion system will reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 40 percent compared with a comparable turbine-powered aircraft while providing four-times more energy than battery-electric powertrains.
“The additional range enabled with VerdeGo’s hybrid system applied in the Jaunt aircraft will enable either longer missions or multiple short back-to-back missions without the requirement for energy infrastructure at every landing site,” said the company’s CEO Eric Bartsch. 
In recent weeks, VerdeGo has announced partnerships with two other companies developing hybrid-electric aircraft. It is supporting Airflow’s plans for an eSTOL freighter and XTI Aircraft’s new program to develop a cargo-carrying version of its TriFan eVTOL.
The Jaunt eVTOL family is based on its patented Reduced Rotor Operating Speed Aircraft (ROSA) technology. The company describes its aircraft as a “compound helicopter” since it features a main rotor and a fixed-wing with propellers. As such, it intends to achieve type certification under the FAA’s existing Part 29 rules for rotorcraft. 
Jaunt is planning to start low-rate production in 2026, with type certification by the end of that year. This will be a piloted aircraft, with an autonomous version targeted to receive approval in 2029.
The Jaunt team has started test-flying a Jaunt Technology Demonstrator to acquire flight data to support design work. A full-scale type certification model is expected to start flights in 2023.
Jaunt is working with three established aerospace groups on the program. BAE Systems’ Controls and Avionics Solutions division is working on power management, while Triumph Aerospace Structures is providing engineering and manufacturing support and Honeywell is responsible for avionics, navigation systems, the electric propulsion system, and connectivity systems. The company says it is in discussions with a possible manufacturing partner outside the U.S.
In October, Jaunt Air Mobility announced plans to partner with PS&amp;S&nbsp;and Price Systems to advance ground infrastructure to support its planned UAM air taxi services. PS&amp;S is an architectural firm and Price Systems is a cost-estimation technology company. The new Access Skyways program is mainly focused on developing facilities such as vertiports to be used by eVTOL aircraft. 
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VerdeGo Helps Jaunt Boost Range With Hybrid-Electric Generator

Airflow has selected VerdeGo Aero’s hybrid-electric powertrain system for the aerial logistics eSTOL aircraft that it aims to get into production during 2025. Through a partnership announced on December 1, VerdeGo Aero will provide its diesel (Jet-A) hybrid propulsion system, which combines a 180 kW generator with a high-power battery pack that the Florida-based company says reduces and emissions and fuel burn by 35 percent compared with conventional turbine powertrains.
California-based Airflow announced the launch of its program in June 2020. It says the fixed-wing aircraft will need only a 300-foot runway that could be built alongside a cargo warehouse to support so-called middle-mile connections of between 50 and 300 miles.
The start-up believes it can get the unnamed aircraft certified under FAA Part 23 rules. Since July, it has been flying a sub-scale model of an initial concept design as it finalizes the configuration of a full-scale prototype that it expects to start flight testing around mid-2023. 
Airflow says that it intends to market cargo-carrying services directly to logistics companies and will sub-contract flight operations to Part 135 operators. It plans to announce partnerships with logistics and real estate firms to develop landing sites.
“Originally, we wanted to do an all-electric aircraft, but it wasn’t going to meet the requirements of our logistics companies,” Airflow cofounder and CEO Marc Ausman told FutureFlight. “We need to deliver a range of 300 miles and with no need for charging infrastructure [away from an operator’s base].”
VerdeGo Aero estimates that its propulsion system will support a range that is four to 10 times that of battery-electric eVTOL aircraft. “Airflow’s platform will be one of the first electric aircraft designed for aerial logistics, providing a higher payload at a lower cost than eVTOL cargo aircraft,” said the partners in their announcement. &nbsp;
For Airflow, initial engineering work has been focused on developing key control algorithms to achieve safe and repeatable short-field landings and takeoffs. By mid-November, the engineering team was evaluating the second version of its autopilot with a series of trial approaches and landings. At that point, it had completed around 220 flights. 
In the coming months, the company’s engineering team will be focusing on tasks such as completing the design of the aircraft’s "blown wing"&nbsp;configuration in which flaps in the wings are deployed to improve low-speed flight performance needed for the STOL capability. Other questions to be resolved include how many blades the propellers will have and how far they should be from the wing. 
Ausman said that&nbsp;time has been spent on market validation, through talks with large logistics companies about requirements such as the size of the cargo bay, takeoff and landing performance, and the need for all-weather capability. He says that operating costs for the fixed-wing aircraft will be around one-third of those of comparable eVTOL aircraft. 
“Our ability to rapidly move cargo from a warehouse directly to another warehouse helps e-commerce companies centralize inventory and reduce carrying costs,” said Ausman.
According to him, the prolific surge in demand for home delivery services during the Covid pandemic has bolstered the&nbsp;belief that e-commerce growth will drive demand for same-day deliveries supported by highly&nbsp;flexible and cost-efficient new aircraft.&nbsp;“Last year, FedEx carried around 50 million packages each day,” he explained. “[At that time] it predicted this would grow to 100 million by 2026, but now that projection has been brought forward to 2023. The trend is for faster and faster deliveries and that poses massive challenges for the logistics industry that will lead it to move to a regional distribution system rather than the current hub and spoke.” 
In October XTI Aircraft selected VerdeGo Aero to provide a hybrid powertrain for its new TriFan 200 eVTOL freighter. The system is modular and is built around a common hybrid genset that can be installed in either a single- or twin-engine configuration, along with a scalable battery pack. So the generator/battery combination is essentially the same for both aircraft but each has its own configuration to fit the respective airframes and missions.
VerdeGo says it will start supplying powertrain hardware to both aircraft developers in 2021. The initial phase of its collaboration with Airflow will focus on optimizing the configuration for the aircraft, which features ten sets of wing-mounted propellers.
The propulsion specialist, which is targetting aviation applications requiring power output of below 1 MW, envisages numerous other applications of the technology on a variety of VTOL, CTOL, and STOL aircraft. It has had a full-scale iron bird test rig for the powertrain in operational test mode since mid-2020. Production hardware is now being assembled.
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VerdeGo Aero's Hybrid-Electric Powertrain Will Drive Airflow's eSTOL Freighter

VerdeGo Aero is to provide its diesel engine to power the TriFan 200 eVTOL freighter being developed by&nbsp;XTI Aircraft. The new model is a smaller version of XTI's already in-development&nbsp;&nbsp;TriFan 600 VTOL passenger aircraft. 
The TriFan 200, intended for unmanned, autonomous cargo and logistics transportation, will be powered by VerdeGo’s high-efficiency, low-emissions hybrid-electric powertrain, which includes a 180KW generator, along with its high-power battery pack. The diesel (jet-A)-hybrid generator is key to the reduction of emissions and fuel burn by 35 percent compared to a conventional turbine powertrain, while according to Florida-based engine maker, reducing direct operating costs by 40 percent.
“XTI’s TriFan 200 is an outstanding application for VerdeGo’s hybrid powertrain systems, and we are excited to support XTI as an early customer,” noted Eric Bartsch, the CEO, and co-founder of the electric propulsion systems manufacturer. “XTI’s goals to provide its customers with reliable, high-performance cargo aircraft are ideally matched with the efficiency of low operating costs of VerdeGo’s diesel hybrid powertrains.”
While the project is still in the early stages of conceptual design, using XTI’s existing two-thirds&nbsp;scale model of the TriFan 600 aircraft as the baseline, the aircraft, once certified will be capable of carrying 500 pounds of cargo on flights of more than 200 miles, enabling it to fulfill short-distance, time-critical missions more rapidly than ground transportation.
“The TriFan 200 aircraft will open up a significant new market for XTI to address the needs of cargo and logistics operators globally,” said Robert Labelle, CEO of the privately-held XTI, which is headquartered near Denver, Colo. “We are excited to be partnered with VerdeGo to leverage their experience with hybrid powertrains, combined with our experience from the TriFan 600 program to create an efficient, economical, profitable VTOL aircraft for fleet operators worldwide.”

VerdeGo Aero

News

USAF Funds VerdeGo's Hybrid Powerplant Development

VerdeGo Aero Unveils 400-kilowatt Hybrid-electric Propulsion System

U.S. Air Force Backs VerdeGo’s VH-4T Hybrid-electric Powerplant

Raytheon Backs VerdeGo Aero for Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Alliance with Pratt & Whitney

VerdeGo Aero Unveils VH-3 Generator For Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Powertrains

VerdeGo Helps Jaunt Boost Range With Hybrid-Electric Generator

VerdeGo Aero's Hybrid-Electric Powertrain Will Drive Airflow's eSTOL Freighter

XTI, VerdeGo Aero Partner On Smaller Cargo TriFan

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