BAE Systems, Swedish firm collaborate on battery for electric airplane

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — BAE Systems, an aerospace and defense company, and Heart Aerospace, a Swedish electric airplane maker, are working together on a battery system for Heart’s ES-30 regional electric airplane.

The battery will be the “first-of-its-kind” integrated into an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) regional aircraft, “allowing it to efficiently operate with zero emissions and low noise,” BAE Systems contended in its announcement.

Heart Aerospace is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The program will leverage more than 25 years of BAE Systems’ expertise in electrifying large, heavy-duty industrial vehicles. Today, the company has over 15,000 power and propulsion systems operating in service across the globe. Work on the program will be conducted at the company’s facility in Endicott in Broome County.

“BAE Systems’ extensive experience in developing batteries for heavy-duty ground applications, and their experience in developing safety critical control systems for aerospace, make them an ideal partner in this important next step for the ES-30 and for the aviation industry,” Sofia Graflund, COO at Heart Aerospace, said in the release. “We look forward to decarbonizing air travel together.”

Four electric motors will power the ES-30 airplane. It has an all-electric range of 200 kilometers; an extended reserve hybrid range of 400 kilometers with 30 passengers; and the ability to fly up to 800 kilometers with 25 passengers, BAE Systems noted.

About BAE Systems

Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, BAE Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of UK–based BAE Systems plc, a global defense, security, and aerospace company. Its website says the firm employs nearly 90,000 people globally. That figure includes more than 1,300 employees in Endicott, per a company spokesman.