EcoPulse To Fly By Year-End Daher has been working on a TBM900 testbed-based hybrid-electric prototype for the last few years. The airframer is at the ongoing 2022 edition of the EBACE in Geneva and have given a timeline for when the testbed demonstrator should fly. Daher suggests that the EcoPulse will fly before the end of 2022. The EcoPulse has six wing-mounted 50-kW electric motors. It still has its main Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine as well.
The EcoPulse demonstrator is an important research testbed which will help form architectural principles for future hybrid aircraft. So far some of the major milestones include powering up the aircraft at the airframer’s Tarbes, France factory with a successful thermal runaway test to see how it handles the high voltage in the aircraft. The project is being carried out by a collaboration between Safran and Airbus and supported by France’s CORAC civil aviation research council as well as Daher themselves. Daher is responsible for flight and airworthiness testing as well as the overall analysis of the test results. For more information: SOCATA North America, Inc. North Perry Airport, 7501 South Airport Rd. Pembroke Pines, FL 33023 / USA www.tbm.aero ***
