One should follow Dr. Frank Anton’s Twitter account – or at least check it occasionally. Dr. Anton is head of Siemen’s Electric Aviation Division and posts new developments regularly. Siemens is supplying motors to Diamond Aircraft’s prototype hybrid, a tidy tri-motor if you count the engine/generator in the nose of the formerly single-engine airplane. Partnered with Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH, Siemens motors powered an adaptation of their DA40 four-seat airplane. A Diesel engine/generator in the nose of the formerly single-engine machine charges two 12-kilowatt batteries behind the passenger compartment and provides power to the two Siemens motors on the canard. The whole thing looks a bit like a large economy-size Cri-Cri. Started in 2013, the project is under the supervision and finance of the Bundesministerium für Wirschaft und Energie (BMWi, German Ministery of Economics) and the Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft GmbH, FFG (Society for the development of the research, Austria). The project has been split into two main work packages. Siemens AG …
