Double the flight duration of a battery powered eVTOL

Background

A manufacturer of a 500 kg battery-powered eVTOL sought to increase its hover duration from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. The project aimed to explore hybrid power solutions capable of doubling flight endurance while maintaining acceptable weight and cost trade-offs.

Project Objective

To identify and optimize a power system capable of doubling the eVTOL’s hover duration while minimizing total mass and total cost of ownership (TCO). The study assessed various hybrid configurations, considering multiple battery sizing options combined with a production 40 kW aero genset.

Approach

The application’s flight and hover cycles were benchmarked to determine the power and energy requirements for a battery-only configuration achieving the extended 30-minute duration. Comparative simulations were then performed between all-electric and hybrid systems using identical architectures while varying only battery capacity.

The analytical workflow consisted of:

Cycle Analysis: Power demand data was processed to define the baseline hover and flight profiles for a 15-minute operation.

System Modeling: Powertrain configurations were modeled for both pure battery and hybrid variants, using the same architecture but adjusting energy storage capacity and genset contribution.

Performance Evaluation: Mass, energy, and cost trade-offs were quantified for each system to determine the configuration achieving target endurance with optimal TCO.

Outcome

For a battery-only configuration, achieving a 30-minute hover required a 26.5 kWh battery. Integrating a 40 kW internal combustion genset significantly reduced overall system mass and volume while maintaining the same endurance target.

The hybrid system achieved a battery mass reduction of up to 3.7 kWh, requiring only a 4.5 kWh energy capacity to meet the extended flight profile. Despite a minor TCO increase over the pure battery system, the hybrid configuration delivered substantial weight savings and operational flexibility, confirming its suitability for near-term endurance extension in eVTOL platforms.

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