en.Wedoany.com Reported - GE Aerospace has completed ground testing of a megawatt-class hybrid-electric engine system, laying the technical foundation for the project to enter the flight test phase. The testing was conducted under the framework of NASA's Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project.
This ground test marks the first time GE Aerospace has validated a fully integrated system, with components including the company's self-developed electric motor/generator, power converter, inverter, controller, Dowty propeller, Avio Aero gearbox, and a CT7 engine. BAE Systems provided the batteries used in the test, while Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences supplied the complete engine nacelle.
Arjan Hegeman, Vice President of Future Flight at GE Aerospace, stated that by progressively validating hybrid-electric engine technology for next-generation commercial aircraft, this latest ground test of the complete hybrid-electric powertrain has equipped the company with the technical reserves to meet customer demands for higher durability, efficiency, and range in future propulsion systems.
Throughout the entire test campaign at the Peebles Test Operations Center in Ohio, the team simulated flight phases including taxi, takeoff, climb, and cruise. The electric powertrain successfully drove the propeller and generated power for the batteries. The tests utilized flight-grade components meeting higher safety and reliability requirements, as part of GE Aerospace's efforts to mature commercial-grade hybrid-electric engine systems. This milestone builds on over a decade of testing and maturation work on individual components and modules.
Hegeman believes that ground testing represents a major turning point in understanding aviation hybrid-electric powertrains and serves as a foundational building block for the future. The hybrid-electric engine system combines an electric powertrain with a conventional gas turbine engine, designed to optimize power management across different operating phases. The system is highly compatible with different fuel types and advanced engine architectures such as open fans.
Through participation in multiple NASA projects, GE Aerospace is leveraging CFM International's RISE program to advance technology maturation for more electric aircraft engines. Announced in 2021, the RISE program is one of the most comprehensive technology demonstration programs in the aviation industry, having completed over 350 tests and more than 3,000 durability cycle tests to date, covering areas such as open fans, compact cores, and hybrid-electric systems. The program aims to achieve over 20% fuel consumption reduction compared to commercial engines currently in service. Technologies under the CFM RISE program are maturing, with ground and flight tests planned for this decade, and integration work with aircraft and engine partners is currently underway.
GE Aerospace first received the EPFD contract from NASA in 2021, tasked with demonstrating the flight readiness of hybrid-electric technology for single-aisle aircraft. Over the past decade, the technology has achieved several key development milestones: in 2016, ground testing of an electric motor driving a propeller was completed; in 2022, the world's first megawatt-class and multi-kilovolt hybrid-electric propulsion system test was conducted at NASA's Electric Aircraft Testbed facility at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, simulating single-aisle commercial flight scenarios; in 2025, through NASA's HyTEC project, a narrow-body hybrid-electric configuration using an improved high-bypass turbofan engine without energy storage was successfully demonstrated.
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