The World's Largest Electric Aircraft Just Flew: $5 to Take Off, Challenging Regional Airlines
Heart Aerospace's ES-30 electric aircraft takes off on $5 of electricity, with operating costs 48% lower than older models, targeting half of all flights under two hours and using hybrid power to solve backup battery challenges.
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Electric aircraft costs just $5 to take off
Heart Aerospace's ES-30, the world's largest electric aircraft, has successfully completed its first flight. With a 100-foot wingspan and a takeoff weight of 25,000 pounds, it costs only $5 in electricity to take off. Its all-electric range is 125 miles, extending to 500 miles with hybrid power, and it charges in about 30 minutes. This marks the viability of electric aviation in the regional market, with operating costs 48% lower than traditional aircraft.
— Anders ForslundElectric motors replace jet engines
Heart's aircraft replaces jet engines with electric motors, which have just one moving part, no combustion, and almost zero wear, making them cheaper to produce and more reliable. In contrast, jet engines have thousands of parts and burn fuel at extremely high temperatures. Electric motors are nearly silent during taxiing and offer good torque characteristics, significantly reducing noise and vibration.
— Anders ForslundRegional aviation has been neglected by technology
The complexity of jet engines makes the cost of engines for 30-seat and 70-seat aircraft similar, leading airlines to favor larger planes and longer routes, making short regional flights highly inefficient. Half of all global flights are under two hours, but existing technology cannot effectively serve this market. Heart targets 40-year-old aircraft models; the key to regional connectivity is flight cost, not distance.
— Anders ForslundFrom a Swedish air force base to MIT
Anders grew up near a Swedish air force base, developing a passion for aircraft, and later pursued a PhD in jet engines at MIT. Twelve years ago, Elon Musk's MIT talk about electrifying all forms of transportation became his inspiration. He spent days researching jet engines and nights tinkering with drones, and with Swedish government funding, he built relationships with Scandinavian Airlines, laying the groundwork for his startup.
— Anders ForslundYC startup: from LOI to physical product
At YC, Anders started with a 3D-printed model and letters of intent (LOIs) from airlines like SAS. They first built a 400-kilowatt motor, which attracted pre-orders from United Airlines, leading to more capital. Anders emphasizes that each funding round requires tangible progress, preferably a touchable physical result, which is more convincing than a business plan.
— Anders ForslundUnited came from a spam folder
Heart's first major customer, United Airlines, came from a spam folder. Clara discovered the inbound email while cleaning spam and invited them for a visit. After seeing the electric motor, United immediately understood and placed an order. This highlights the importance of showing physical products directly and the potential of unconventional channels.
— Anders ForslundIn-house manufacturing and testing
Heart designs and manufactures most aircraft components in its Los Angeles factory, including actuators and fuselage. They choose to build critical parts in-house to avoid dependence on single suppliers and accelerate iteration. The entire factory acts like a large test bench, where faults can be injected to ensure systems operate safely under abnormal conditions.
— Anders ForslundBattery and hybrid solution
Heart's battery lab tests cells from Chinese, American, and Korean manufacturers, with current highest energy density at 370 Wh/kg, approaching the 400 Wh/kg target. To solve the backup battery issue, they adopt a hybrid system using a simple turboprop engine as backup, adding about 20% upfront cost but enabling a 500-mile range and meeting safety reserve requirements.
— Anders ForslundRisk philosophy and market positioning
Heart borrows SpaceX's risk management philosophy, focusing on minimizing the impact of errors rather than avoiding risk entirely. They are not building flying taxis but directly attacking the mainstream aircraft market with 36 seats, leveraging the existing infrastructure of 5,000 airports. Compared to hydrogen, hybrid electric already has a significant green premium advantage, and aircraft appreciate over time like houses.
— 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 cost improvement | 48% | 3:00 |
| Battery energy density | 370 Wh/kg | 10:00 |
| Number of seats | 36 | 10:00 |
Glossary
- LOI
- A non-binding document expressing an airline's intent to purchase, not a contract.
- hybrid electric
- Combining batteries with a conventional engine to provide backup power.
- green premium
- The extra cost of clean technology compared to traditional technology; here, it is negative.
How to listen
Entrepreneurs, investors, and engineers focused on clean energy, aviation technology, and startup funding.