Eurocopter might exhibit a hybrid helicopter, using both piston engines and electric motors like a hybrid car, by Heli-Expo 2020. Parent company EADS last year unveiled a helicopter concept that could burn 50 percent less fuel than its traditional equivalent. EADS Innovation Works is devising a way to combine diesel engines, generators, batteries and electric motors. According to Peter Jänker, research team leader for electric power and responsible for the project, those technologies might be mature in four to nine years.
The concept is part of EADS’s eCO2avia effort for greener aircraft. Jänker’s team, with input from Eurocopter, has worked on a three-metric ton- class (6,600 pounds) helicopter. “The hybrid concept would be suitable for small or large airframes,” he said. The hybrid helicopter researchers envision diesel engines that feed batteries through electric generators. In turn, electric motors drive the rotors.
