Siemens has developed a new type of electric motor that, with a weight of just 50 kilograms, delivers a continuous output of about 260 kilowatts – five times more than comparable drive systems.
On Thursday, March 23, 2017, the Extra 330LE aerobatic plane, powered by the propulsion system from Siemens, set two new speed records. At the Dinslaken Schwarze Heide airfield in Germany, the electric aircraft reached a top speed of around 340 kilometers per hour (km/h) over a distance of three kilometers. On Friday, March 24, 2017, the Extra 330LE gave another premiere performance by becoming the world’s first electric aircraft to tow a glider into the sky.
The nearly silent aerotow piloted by Walter Extra took a type LS8-neo glider up to a height of 600 meters in only 76 seconds. Siemens is contributing this technology to the cooperative project that Siemens and Airbus agreed to in April 2016 for driving the development of electrically powered flight.
Electric drives are scalable, and Siemens and Airbus will be using the record-setting motor as a basis for developing regional airliners powered by hybrid-electric propulsion systems. Siemens is determined to establish hybrid-electric propulsion systems for aircraft as a future area of business.
