Heart Aerospace today unveiled the ES-36, a 36-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner and the company’s production aircraft.
Alongside the unveiling, air carrier JSX announced a deposit-backed purchase agreement for 50 ES-36 aircraft, with purchase rights for 50 more.
“The ES-36 evolves the previously announced Heart ES-30 with a simplified two-nacelle airframe and series-hybrid electric propulsion architecture designed to further improve the Heart production aircraft’s operating cost advantage over legacy regional aircraft,” said the company in a press release.
“Compared with the ES-30, the ES-36 adds six passenger seats and 1,415 pounds of payload capacity, increasing both by 20 percent while retaining the same maximum takeoff weight and battery capacity as the prior design. Its aerodynamically optimized airframe allows more capacity to be dedicated to passengers and payload, increasing the aircraft’s revenue potential, while the shift from four nacelles and propellers to two reduces the number of propulsion components to maintain, lowering maintenance costs.”
Superseding the ES-30’s four-engine independent-hybrid configuration, the ES-36 adopts twin series-hybrid powertrains, with each utilizing a 1.65-megawatt electric motor to drive a propeller, said the company. Ground-charged onboard batteries provide an all-electric range of 125 miles (200 kilometers), plus reserves, allowing operators to serve short-haul routes with no fuel burn.
For longer missions, the ES-36 has a hybrid range of 745 miles (1,200 kilometers), plus reserves, enabled by a megawatt-class turbogenerator in each of its two powertrains. “Each turbogenerator is powered by its own compact, commercially available gas turbine, which generates electricity in flight to supplement the batteries and power the electric propulsion motors,” said the company.
“The ES-36 design is a direct result of what Heart learned designing, building, testing and flying our X1 demonstrator aircraft,” said Ben Stabler, Chief Technology Officer at Heart. “Those learnings have helped us make the production aircraft more capable in the air and more productive for operators. The ES-36 carries more passengers and payload, creating greater revenue-generating potential for operators like JSX, while targeting operating costs at least 40 percent lower than legacy regional aircraft.”
JSX’s agreement converts its 2023 letter of intent with Heart into a deposit-backed purchase commitment and secures early delivery positions for the air carrier, advancing its partnership with Heart Aerospace from aircraft development toward fleet introduction.
JSX serves airports including Santa Monica, Westchester County, Naples and Napa Valley. “Its short-field performance supports operations at constrained airfields, while its compact footprint helps JSX make more efficient use of limited ramp, gate and hangar space. With a 95-foot wingspan, approximately 11 feet shorter than the ES-30’s, the ES-36 is designed to support higher-frequency service and greater aircraft utilization at busy regional airfields.”
For more information
https://www.heartaerospace.com/newsroom/heart-aerospace-unveils-es-36-with-jsx-purchase-agreement-for-up-to-100-aircraft
(Image: Heart Aerospace)