easyJet and electric aircraft pioneer, Wright Electric, outline electric future of aviation

• easyJet partners with U.S.-based Wright Electric to support their ambition to design and scale its electric commercial aircraft over the next decade
• easyJet reveals prototype electric plane with a range of 540 km / 335 miles which would cover 20% of passenger journeys flown by easyJet

easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, today provided a glimpse of the future of aviation through its collaboration with electric aircraft manufacturer, Wright Electric. The airline has been working closely with Wright Electric over the course of 2017 to provide an airline operator’s perspective on the development of this exciting step forward in battery-propelled aircraft and this week the two companies showed what the new electric plane would look like.

Wright Electric is working towards producing a fully electric plane within a decade with a further ambitious goal for every short flight to be zero-emissions within 20 years. It is aiming for an aircraft range of 335 miles which would cover 20% of passengers flown by easyJet today.

Wright Electric has already demonstrated its first two seater plane, revealing how technology works on a smaller scale. Now, Wright Electric aims to prove the technology can be scaled to accommodate the needs of larger commercial aircraft. The battery in the two seater plane weighs approximately 600 lbs however when scaled up Wright Electric will utilize new energy storage chemistries that are substantially lighter than today’s commercial batteries.