Airbus and Siemens Teaming-up To Create Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System
Airbus and Siemens are teaming-up! The two companies are collaborating their ideas in a bid to create a hybrid electric propulsion system by 2020, to determine whether the technology has future application or not. This bold new move is set to bridge the gap between current technology and future technology that does not yet exist by creating the technology to support the concept hybrid electric propulsion, that is set to reduce carbon fuel usage by 30-40%.
This concept is set to be applied to the E-Thrust project with Rolls-Royce, using a vehicle based distributed propulsion. Though Airbus are investigating ways to create technology that can be used to build hybrid electric propulsion systems into electric aircraft.
There are many challenges ahead for the two companies, mainly the high power to weight ratio for the drive system which could be achieved by improving the existing components of the aircraft to reduce the weight, in a bid to increase power and speed, as well as the ability to carry more passengers with the larger aircraft.
The two companies are working on various types of electric propulsion systems that are able to function correctly and efficiently, inside the harsh environment of an aircraft, where it will be subject to low temperatures, and the outside elements.