Qualified Drivetrain for Electric Flight

Heart Aerospace is a Swedish start-up that makes electric aircraft for regional air travel. Heart’s first aircraft is the ES-19, an all-electric nineteen-seater airliner with a range of 400 km, set to enter service in 2025. Heart has validated strong market demand for the ES-19, with signed Letters of Intent (LOIs) from 7 airlines across Europe and North America for 137 aircraft worth approximately €1 billion. Project QualE-fly is centered around Heart’s core innovation, the high-efficiency electric drivetrain that powers the aircraft ES-19 airliner. The drivetrain comprises an electric motor, motor controller and propeller actuators, and is controlled using Heart’s Electric Propulsion Automatic Control System (EPACS). Heart has designed a prototype of the QualE-fly drivetrain with market-leading efficiency and performance. The aim of this project is to take the QualE-fly drivetrain from the prototype stage (TRL5) through the stringent certification and safety standards required for commercial aviation operations, into a product ready for the market (TRL8). The project has two work packages. Work package 1 consists of detailing formal requirements and design of QualE-fly, to ensure certifiability. Work package 2 consists of the manufacturing and qualification ground testing of the QualE-fly drivetrain. After being introduced in the ES-19 aircraft in 2025, the QualE-fly drivetrain will be reused for our 48-seater ES-48 airliner, set to enter service in 2032. The target market for this aircraft is all global short-haul air travel under 2000 km, which currently accounts for 85% of worldwide departures and 43% of global emissions. Electric aviation represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity to cut aviation emissions and transition to sustainable, revitalized regional communities through enhanced mobility and connectivity.