2023-09-30 12:28:28
Is electric flight the future of aviation? André Borschberg, co-founder of Solar Impulse with Bertrand Piccard, believes this revolution is possible, even if it will take time. Today he leads one of the most promising start-ups in this field, H55. He was the guest of Helvetica on Saturday.
The H55 company recently succeeded in raising $45 million in funds, a great success in a tense economic climate. The search for financing is also a constant, almost a job in its own right.
“We are very happy but we have to realize that these types of companies spend a lot and that we need a lot of time to arrive at a product which is finally marketed and which allows us to generate income,” explains André Borschberg.
“Switzerland is very well positioned in energy”
Specializing in the manufacturing of batteries, the H55 company has decided to establish its head office in Switzerland, in the canton of Valais. For its creator, it was obvious.
“It is first of all regarding our heritage, since H55 is really the derivative of the technologies that we developed with Bertrand Piccard in the Solar Impulse project. But it is above all a project around energy and Switzerland is very well positioned in this area: in terms of knowledge, technologies, university activities. We therefore have a very appropriate economic fabric”, he analyzes.
For now, H55 technology is only used on training aircraft that make one-hour flights, which corresponds well to battery life. “The goal is to have by next year until 2030 hundreds of electric planes that use this technology, so that we can demonstrate its reliability for larger capacity planes, planes transport”, specifies André Borschberg.
“Nothing is impossible”
Asked to know if it will really be possible one day to carry out long-haul flights aboard 100% electric Airbus, the boss of H55 judges that “nothing is impossible” but admits that it will take whatever happens. a lot of time and may require other technologies.
“That’s why we have to start with small aviation. At H55, we are working on projects for aircraft with two to fifty seats, so we are already in medium category transport aviation (… ).For very large capacity aircraft, I think we will use other technologies,” he says.
One of the options mentioned is often hydrogen, but for André Borschberg it is still too early to know which one will be the right one: “Will we be able to be carbon neutral by 2050 in aviation? Maybe, but only if we start today,” he believes.
And to recall the crucial importance of being supported, also by the political world. “This is what will open the door for us to continue our development.”
The security challenge
Beyond the power and autonomy of the batteries, one of the major challenges remains the reliability and safety of the technologies. At a time when several incidents have been recorded with small passenger lithium batteries, the latter catching fire for example during a flight, what regarding the risks on huge lithium batteries supposed to operate an airplane?
André Borschberg readily admits that in aeronautics, the right to make mistakes does not exist, under penalty of consequences which can very quickly prove fatal. “Today, the challenge in aviation is certification. It means demonstrating that technologies are 100% safe. That is, showing that no failure creates a catastrophic situation. And “It’s difficult for authorities who do not yet know exactly what they should require from manufacturers, because they do not yet know the field well, which is very vast,” he analyzes.
But if the challenges are real and still numerous, André Borschberg has learned to have a certain confidence in these technologies. A confidence in their quality and their potential which has been forged over the 13 years spent with Solar Impulse.
Comments collected by Philippe Revaz
Adaptation web: Tristan Hertig
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