Another new regional electric plane

With the current changes in technology, new companies are created that try to take advantage of the opportunity to gain a foothold in a niche of the new markets that appear.

This is the case of the Swedish company Heart Aerospace, which is a start-up that has presented its idea of ​​an electric airplane for regional flights of the turbo-prop type for 19 passengers called ES-19.

The plane is still to be designed but has attracted the interest of some investors, including United Airlines, which has committed to buying 100 of the aircraft in the next few years.

This is the market today. Someone with a novel idea for an expansive market exposes it to the world and may be able to secure investments worth tens (and sometimes hundreds) of millions of dollars. It is not easy, but some do it.

The 19-passenger plane is expected to have a range of 250 miles (it is quite short) and that with the advent of new, more efficient batteries whose range can be extended a few hundred miles to become fully useful.

The 4 electric motors that it carries are much cheaper than the current turbo-prop motors, as well as their maintenance, so its operating costs will also be cheaper and it could be used on routes that today are not profitable with the current aircrafts.

The company’s intentions are to finish the design in 2023, make a first flight in 2024, obtain aeronautical certification by 2026 and, thereafter, start delivering airplanes.

For a company that has never made an airplane, the deadlines seem quite optimistic.

I do not know who is behind the Heart Aerospace company and on its WEB I have seen many photos of very young people, of which I do not know their previous experience. The two board members are two people under the age of 40 (Gustav Alströmer (an investor from San Francisco) and Christian Garcia who is another investor).

It is clear that these people know how to get investors and if they are really capable of manufacturing an airplane I will take my hat off; but I would not be surprised if they start up the company and in a short time try to sell it to another aeronautical company and get a good capital gain.

This is what investors usually do.

Time will tell.