The World's Largest Electric Aircraft Just Flew: $5 of Electricity, Taking On Regional Aviation
Heart Aerospace's ES-30 electric aircraft takes off on $5 of electricity, with operating costs 48% lower than the old planes it replaces, targeting half of the world's flights under two hours and using hybrid power to solve the backup battery problem.
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The electric aircraft's electricity bill is just $5
The world's largest electric aircraft, Heart Aerospace's ES-30, has completed its first flight. It has a 100-foot wingspan and a takeoff weight of 25,000 pounds, yet takeoff costs only $5 in electricity. Its all-electric range is 125 miles, 500 miles with hybrid power, and charging takes about 30 minutes. This marks the viability of electric aviation in the regional market, with operating costs 48% lower than conventional aircraft.
— Anders ForslundElectric motors replace jet engines
Heart's aircraft replaces jet engines with electric motors. A motor has only one moving part, no combustion, and almost zero wear, so it is cheaper to produce and more reliable. A jet engine, by contrast, has thousands of parts and burns fuel at extremely high temperatures. Electric motors are nearly silent while taxiing and have good torque characteristics, significantly cutting noise and vibration.
— Anders ForslundRegional aviation has been ignored by technology
The complexity of jet engines makes the engine cost for a 30-seat and a 70-seat aircraft similar, which pushes airlines toward larger aircraft and longer routes, leaving short regional flights extremely inefficient. Half of the world's flights are under two hours, but existing technology cannot serve that market effectively. Heart is targeting 40-year-old aircraft; the key to regional connectivity is the cost of flying, not distance.
— Anders ForslundFrom a Swedish air force base to MIT
Anders grew up next to a Swedish air force base, was passionate about aircraft, and later went to MIT for a PhD in jet engines. Twelve years ago, Elon Musk spoke at MIT and said all forms of transport would go electric — that became his inspiration. He began studying jet engines by day and tinkering with drones by night, and with Swedish government funding built a relationship with Nordic airlines, laying the groundwork for a startup.
— Anders ForslundThe YC startup: from LOI to physical hardware
At YC, Anders started with a 3D-printed model and letters of intent (LOIs) from airlines including SAS. They first built a 400-kilowatt motor, which attracted a preorder from United Airlines and in turn more capital. Anders stresses that every fundraise needs substantive progress, ideally something physical you can touch — that is more persuasive than a business plan.
— Anders ForslundUnited came from the spam folder
Heart's first big customer, United Airlines, came from the spam folder. Clara, while clearing spam, found the inbound email and invited them to visit. After they showed the electric motor, United understood immediately and placed an order. This shows the importance of showing the actual hardware, and that unconventional channels can bring huge opportunities.
— Anders ForslundIn-house manufacturing and testing
At its Los Angeles factory, Heart designs and builds most of the aircraft's components itself, including actuators and the fuselage. They chose to make key parts in-house to avoid depending on a single supplier and to speed up iteration. The whole factory works like one big test bench, where faults can be injected to verify the system still runs safely under abnormal conditions.
— Anders ForslundBatteries and the hybrid solution
Heart's battery lab tests cells from manufacturers in China, the US and South Korea; the highest energy density so far is 370 Wh/kg, close to the 400 Wh/kg target. To solve the backup battery problem, they use a hybrid system with a simple turboprop engine as backup, adding about 20% to upfront cost but letting the aircraft fly 500 miles and meet safety reserve requirements.
— Anders ForslundRisk philosophy and market positioning
Heart borrows SpaceX's risk-management philosophy: focus on minimizing the impact of errors rather than avoiding risk entirely. They are not building air taxis but attacking the mainstream aircraft market directly, with 36 seats and the existing infrastructure of 5,000 airports. Compared with hydrogen, hybrid electric already has a significant green-premium advantage, and the aircraft appreciates over time like a house.
— Anders ForslundIn their own words · checked verbatim
This is the largest electric airplane ever to fly It's got 100 foot wingspan, a take off weight of 25,000 and the electricity to get it off the ground costs just $5
Anders Forslund0:00
So it's this really, really simple thing that has very few moving parts, so it means that you can produce them a lot cheaper.They don't break because they don't really have combustion or.Fluid, so you get basically zero wear.
Anders Forslund1:30
Half of all flights in the world are under two hours. There is a replacement market here that's not even driven by cost.
Anders Forslund3:00
I was actually doing research on this being paid by the Swedish government to go around, speak to all the airlines before I even had a company, establish the relationships with the airlines in the Nordics before I even like tried to build something
Anders Forslund4:09
If you're a founder listening to this, the learning that you should have is every time you need more capital, it needs to be something material, ideally something physical you can touch that you can show.That you've made
Anders Forslund6:00
United Airlines came through an inbound email through our.Info email, Clara was looking at it, and she was like.I think this might be a thing like he was like cleaning out the spam
Anders Forslund7:00
The highest thing that we have on this table right now is about 370 one of the manufacturers and is producing something at that 400 level that we're expecting to have within the next couple months easily meets our targets for the first generation of the aircraft
Anders Forslund10:00
Figures
| Takeoff electricity cost | $5 | 0:00 |
| Wingspan | 100 feet | 0:00 |
| Takeoff weight | 25,000 pounds | 0:00 |
| All-electric range | 125 miles | 0:00 |
| Hybrid range | 500 miles | 0:00 |
| Charging time | about 30 minutes | 0:00 |
| Share of global flights under two hours | half | 3:00 |
| Operating economics improvement | 48% | 3:00 |
| Battery energy density | 370 Wh/kg | 10:00 |
| Seats | 36 | 10:00 |
Glossary
- LOI
- A non-binding document in which an airline expresses intent to buy; not a contract.
- hybrid electric
- Combines batteries with a conventional engine to provide backup power.
- green premium
- The extra cost of a clean technology over the conventional alternative; here it is negative.
How to listen
Founders, investors and engineers focused on clean energy, aviation technology and startup financing.