The Ampaire hybrid-electric EEL demonstrator aircraft today completed a 1,880 statute mile mission from Los Angeles to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where it will be on display at EAA AirVenture’s most prominent location—Boeing Plaza.
The journey included the single longest nonstop flight ever made by a hybrid-electric aircraft—1,135 miles. Ampaire test pilot Elliot Seguin took off from Camarillo Airport on Wednesday afternoon, July 20 to reposition to Mojave Airport in California (85 miles) in order to avoid the potential for early morning fog the next morning. On Thursday, he flew the 1,135 miles from Mojave to Hays, Kansas.
The next morning, July 22, he completed the trip, flying 660 miles to Oshkosh’s Wittman Regional Airport. The EEL demonstrated fuel savings of up to 40 percent versus a standard Cessna Skymaster, on which it is based.
The EEL is a parallel hybrid, with one conventional combustion engine and an independent electric drivetrain. Optimized hybrid electric aircraft can demonstrate substantially higher fuel savings and emissions reductions.
“By the time the EEL returns to California it will have flown more miles than any hybrid-electric aircraft, over 15,000, including airline demonstration flights in Hawaii and the UK. It is flying with great reliability and demonstrating the workhorse nature of hybrid-electric aircraft,” noted Dr. Susan Ying, Ampaire’s SVP of Global Partnerships.
“We are taking the technology and expertise developed with the electrical EEL and applying it to our first commercial product, the hybrid-electric nine-seat Eco Caravan regional aircraft, which will make its first flight later this year. That aircraft will demonstrate fuel savings up to 70 percent and emissions reductions up to 100 percent when using sustainable aviation fuel.”
Ampaire is moving rapidly to bring the benefits of electrification to aviation markets, starting with the Eco Caravan and scaling its technology to larger regional aircraft.
Los Angeles-based Ampaire was formed in 2016 with a mission to become the world’s most-trusted developer of practical, compelling electric aircraft. The company is upgrading existing passenger aircraft to hybrid-electric power – the quickest, most efficient approach to making commercial electric air travel a reality with available technology.
The company ultimately intends to offer upgraded and all-new hybrid-electric and fully electric aircraft. Ampaire technology is scalable to larger aircraft, including large regional aircraft. Ampaire has scored a series of industry firsts since the 2019 maiden flight of its Electric EEL technology testbed aircraft.
It’s EEL market demonstration aircraft has flown nonstop from Los Angeles to San Francisco and the length of the UK. In April 2022, Ampaire began ground power runs of its Eco Caravan hybrid-electric upgrade of the Cessna Grand Caravan, slated for certification and service introduction in 2024.