Electric Aircraft Chase Record After Record

Hünxe is a tranquil community on the lower Lower Rhine - with a small local museum and market square. A community like many others - would not be an airfield in Hünxe, which has been in the aviation record books since November 25, 2016. The pilot Walter Extra set a new world record in climbing with the Extra 330LE aerobatic plane. With an electric drive system from Siemens, the electric aircraft reached a height of 3000 m in four minutes and 22 seconds. The machine rose 11.5 m into the air every second.

Picture gallery

Electric motor

Siemens takes off with electric aircraft for the first time, purely electrically

Record beaten by more than a minute

Walter Extra beat the previous record - set by the American William M. Yates in 2013 - by one minute and 10 seconds. The World Air Federation Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) recognized the record flight. Now he is immortalized in the category "Electric planes weighing up to 1000 kilograms".

It was only in June 2016, also at the Schwarze Heide airfield in Hünxe, that the first flight of the drive system was successful. The centerpiece is an electric motor from Siemens, also a world record holder: it delivers 260 kW of continuous electrical power with a total weight of 50 kg, and thus has an unmatched power-to-weight ratio.

Outstanding performance

"This is another milestone on the way to the electrification of aviation," said Frank Anton, Head of E-Aircraft in the Siemens start-up unit Next47. "This enormous performance was only possible through digital technologies, with which we were able to optimize our drive train to the technical limit." The approximately 330 kg Extra 330LE serves as a test bed for the new drive. For Siemens AG E-Aircraft, this record impressively demonstrates the outstanding performance of the SP260D propulsion system and the efficient integration into the aircraft of the OEM Extra Aircraft in Dinslaken.

Electromobility initiative

Joint research on electric flying

Hybrid electric regional aircraft

The two-seater aircraft will be the ideal test vehicle for the next few years when it comes to analyzing and further developing the interaction of the individual components. Siemens is also introducing the technology into its cooperation with Airbus for electric flying, which the two companies had agreed on in April 2016. They want to demonstrate the technical feasibility of hybrid electric propulsion systems for regional aircraft with up to 100 passengers by 2020. This involves outputs of up to 10 MW. Based on the record engine, the two partners will develop hybrid-electric regional aircraft. "By 2030 we expect the first machines with up to 100 passengers and a range of around 1000 kilometers," explains Anton. (sh)

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* Dr. Ulrich Kreutzer, Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, CT REE, Munich