Embraer’s Energia Family

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Hybrid Aircraft, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Coming up with a new airplane is a daunting task – but Embraer announced four new designs this week.  Ranging from nine to fifty passengers, Embraer’s Energia family are all electric or clean fuel redefinitions of regional air travel.  Luis Carlos Alfonso, Senior VP of Engineering, Technology Development and Corporate Strategy presented them in front of a socially-distanced crowd in Brazil. The presentation, which sent virtual representations of the four craft flying out into the crowd, took place to coincide with COP26 (the Congress of Parties) being held in Glasgow, Scotland.  Its choices of pure electric, hybrid-electric, hydrogen-electric, and in its 50-passenger model, hydrogen or SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) driving turbine engines are all moving toward a “net-zero” goal. Two for Nine The two nine-passenger airplanes vary considerably.  One is high-wing, with a pair of vertical tail-mounted motors driving contra-rotating propellers in full-electric mode.  The other is a low-wing type, with twin electric motors on the rear flanks of the …

Embraer Electrifies Agricultural Aviation

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft maker with ties to Boeing, has been tilling the clean aviation field for several years.  Their current agricultural craft, the EMB 203, has flown on ethanol for some years – a kind of farm-to-aircraft symbiotic relationship.  Going to the next step toward clean, green aviation, Embraer has since devised an electrical powertrain in cooperation with WEG Equipamentos Elétricos and EDP. Embraer is deeply involved in programs headed toward making the skies greener.  This includes everything from their aircraft designs to their “DIPAS PROGRAM – DIPAS (Integrated Development of an Environmentally Sustainable Product).”  This program considers “current and future environmental legislation,” alternative technologies and their life cycles.  The program works toward reducing fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, noise, and maintenance costs, while, “Increasing operational efficiency and comfort for the pilot and passengers.” Other operations to incorporate electrification of flight include Embraer X’s Eve, the company’s approach to urban aerial mobility, and other efforts to offset or mitigate harmful …