World’s First All-Electric, 100-Passenger Regional Jet

Wright Electric, Inc. announced the newest addition to their zero-emission portfolio, in conjunction with the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The Wright Spirit is a 100-passenger, one-hour flight regional jet with megawatt-class propulsion. Using the short-haul BAe 146 platform as a starting point, the 4-engine jet sports a famously quiet operational signature and robust, simple construction.

Wright chose it for its relative quietness (though mostly a product of its stock turbine engines) , as it dovetails nicely into their plans for a 100% reduction in all emissions starting in 2026. CEO Jeff Engler says there’s hardly a better company in the market to build this kind of aircraft. ““Because we built the world's largest aerospace propulsive powertrain, we can build the world's largest zero-emissions retrofit directly serving the world's busiest routes,” he said at the announcement. Wright’s progress has been moving along at a brisk pace, having begun development of their megawatt propulsion system in early 2020. In the span of 2 years, the company has built their own high-efficiency, high-power density inverter with a 2,700 horsepower motor. The BAe 146 will see its stock fuel-based system replaced with Wright’s propulsion system. 

Wright’s design philosophy targets a core of one-hour flight city pairs, ferrying passengers between relatively close but populous locales. San Francisco to Los Angeles, London to Paris, and Seoul to Jeju are all fertile ground for the Spirit to steal significant market share from noisier, thirstier, and dirtier aircraft. Development is currently proceeding on track, with flight testing to come in 2023 with a single electric propulsor in the place of one engine, moving to two electric replacements the following year, eventually resulting in the full bank of four electric propulsors in 2026, with entry into service (theoretically) soon after. 

FMI: www.weflywright.com