Cugnaux (France) (AFP)
Almost 100 years after the pioneers of Aéropostale, the Toulouse start-up Aura Aéro would like to follow their path by focusing on electric aviation, with the project of putting into service a regional transport aircraft without CO2 emissions in 2027.
"It's not been so long since manufacturers have been interested in electric aircraft and few in the world have taken the subject head on", explains Jérémy Caussade, president and one of the three founders of Aura Aéro, which admits to closely following the model of Tesla, pioneer of the electric car.
Founded three years ago by former Airbus employees, Aura Aéro now has some 80 employees and is developing an aerobatic aircraft, called Intégral R, whose assembly line is installed in a hangar at the former air base. from Toulouse-Francazal (Haute-Garonne), not far from the test tubes of the Californian transport company Hyperloop.
Jérémy Caussade, one of the founders and president of Aura Aéro poses in the company's hangar on August 24, 2021 in Cugnaux, near Toulouse Fred SCHEIBER AFP
It is a place steeped in history: in addition to its location in Occitania, the cradle of aeronautics in France, in 1935 the building hosted the first air base of the French army.
The matt black wood-carbon two-seater successfully completed its first flight in June 2020. First thermal, the aircraft will then be available as an electric motor for a first flight next year and deliveries from 2023.
"The objective was to create a modern aircraft manufacturer that can meet the challenges of the aviation of the future: quieter, cleaner, more efficient and safer planes", underlines Mr. Caussade.
- Environmental impact -
The aeronautics sector is on a long road to reducing its environmental impact and reducing the volume of CO2 emissions, responsible for global warming.
But as it stands, the storage capacity of the batteries is not sufficient to fly medium or long-haul aircraft.
Prototype plane without CO2 emissions in the Aura Aero hangar, August 24, 2021 in Cugnaux, near Toulouse Fred SCHEIBER AFP
The sector is also exploring other avenues such as hybrid aircraft (combining thermal and electric) and hydrogen aircraft (not expected for 15 years).
Other manufacturers are currently developing prototypes, such as the Swedish Heart Aerospace, whose ES-19 is scheduled to enter service in 2026 or the Velis Electro from the Slovenian Pipistrel.
The Slovenian manufacturer's two-seater is the only electric aircraft to have been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in June 2020.
The industry is therefore concentrating, for the moment, on small planes, from single-seater to regional aircraft with a few dozen seats.
This is the case of Aura Aéro: the company is working on a 19-seat electric regional transport aircraft project (ERA, Electrical Regional Aircraft).
- "Beginning of the story" -
According to Jérôme Bouchard, expert in aeronautics at the firm Oliver Wyman, we must not transpose "the uses of today to the all-electric of tomorrow".
"It will not be with all-electric 19-seater planes that we will make the + hub and spoke +", a model which consists of serving a large airport with large aircraft from which smaller planes then make connections to secondary destinations , he specifies.
Aura Aéro employees work on the concept of a CO2-free aircraft in the company's workshop in Cugnaux, near Toulouse, August 24, 2021 Fred SCHEIBER AFP
"These companies will use secondary airports with short runways, smaller terminals, which could look like stations, with the point-to-point or multi-point-to-point model: Toulouse-Marseille then Marseille-Lyon", note M Bouchard.
Engineers are currently perfecting the design of the prototype on a computer: an elongated fuselage, wings located on the roof of the aircraft with six propellers.
"Upon entry into service, we will be able to cover a distance of 400 km, a little more than Toulouse-Lyon," said Mr. Caussade.
"It is not a substitute for the train, which is a mass transport. It is very suitable in places where there are mountains, major geological obstacles or for speed issues, such as medical evacuations, transport organs, ”he explains.
Development costs are estimated at "several hundred million euros".
And the first flight is not expected before the end of 2024 with deliveries in 2027.
"We are at the beginning of the history of electric aeronautics but things will accelerate very strongly in the years to come: we have obligations of results, we must reduce our emissions," suggests Jérémy Caussade.
© 2021 AFP