Sydney-based Dovetail Electric Aviation today walked away with $3 million in funding from the federal government to help it develop, test and certify the conversion of turbine-powered planes into fully electric-powered aircraft.
The funding covers only a quarter of the cost of the overall project, which is in partnership with Sydney Seaplanes (one-half of its parent company), Memko Aviation, Aerospace and Defence Pty Ltd, the University of New South Wales and CSIRO.
Together, the group have kicked off a project to develop, flight test and certify the conversion to electric propulsion of a turboprop plane, with the goal of providing regional commuter services.
Much like electric cars, electric planes have the promise to be (in the future) much better for the environment.
The conversion of turbine aircraft to electric propulsion promises to bring zero-emissions aviation into the mainstream much faster and more cost-effectively than via newly commissioned electrical planes.
Dovetail said regional airports serve few passengers, but their importance increases by making flying smaller aircraft greener and more affordable. Backing up their claim that it’s greener, is the saving of 1 million tons of CO2 per year, and as for cost, they reckon operators will incur 40 per cent less operating costs with electrification.
The $3 million grant forms part of a $44 million investment announced today by Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic and is made available by the Australian government’s Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program. The CRC-P is tasked with supporting companies working to commercialise “cutting-edge” ideas in collaboration with researchers and innovators.
In Dovetail’s case, the CRC-P will accelerate the certification for a passenger service, making it more economical than a new aircraft.
Dovetail said that only one company in the world to date is converting the same aircraft into electric, with theirs a hybrid, not zero emissions.
“This will address an important market niche, enabling longer range flights with battery improvements,” a note on the CRC-P website reads.
The company says it will use the electric aircraft for short flights with an eye to develop emissions-free aircraft for use on regional routes in the future.
“This funding will allow us to continue to push the boundaries of electric aviation and bring our vision of a more sustainable future for the industry closer to reality,” Dovetail CEO David Doral said in a statement.
We’ve actually written about Dovetail before – the company is working with Australian regional airline Rex, which has plans to retrofit some of its fleet, converting a number of planes to electric-propulsion engines.