The AP (11/28, McHugh) reports, “Airbus, Siemens and Rolls-Royce are teaming up to develop a hybrid passenger plane that would use a single electric turbofan along with three conventional jet engines running on aviation fuel.”
The new hybrid aircraft “is an effort to develop and demonstrate technology that in the future could help limit emissions of carbon dioxide from aviation and reduce reliance on fossil fuels,” and the companies announced Tuesday that “they aim to build a flying version of the E-Fan X technology demonstrator plane by 2020.”
The AP adds that “the aircraft would be based on the existing BAe 146 four-engine regional jet,” and “the hybrid version would generate electric power through a turbine within the plane.”