Aircraft

Hybrid Czech eVTOL begins hover tests, claiming 720-km range

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Zuri's tech demonstrator is a single-seater with a wingspan 90% as large as the final projected product
Zuri
Zuri's tech demonstrator is a single-seater with a wingspan 90% as large as the final projected product
Zuri
The Zuri large-scale prototype takes off in "flying wing" configuration
Zuri
Zuri team members with the large-scale tech demonstrator
Zuri
Fitting the doors to the tech demonstrator
Zuri
A clean interior design concept
Zuri
A maximum of four seats is an interesting choice
Zuri
The production design, with its large tail wing
Zuri
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Czech company Zuri has commenced hover testing on its first near-scale VTOL air taxi tech demonstrator. With a hybrid powertrain on board, this team promises real-world range figures up to 720 km (447 miles) at cruise speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph).

Batteries are extremely heavy, and hydrogen technology might take some time to hit the mainstream. When either of these problems get solved, electric VTOL aircraft will instantly be able to fly a lot further.

But there are companies that want to launch with long range figures, and they're willing to sacrifice the clean powertrain to do it. France's Ascendance, Russia's Cyclocar, Switzerland's Manta, the UK's Samad Aerospace, Canada's Horizon Aircraft (now part of Astro Aerospace), Rolls-Royce and Colorado's XTI Aircraft, among others, all have hybrid-electric air taxi designs in development that use fossil fuels to radically extend their range.

The production design, with its large tail wing
Zuri

Prague-based Zuri joins the list with a 3-4 seat hybrid lift & cruise design targeted at the "regional air mobility" market. It's a fairly classic design; large wings, crossed by four long propulsion pods supporting eight vertical lift props. The middle two pods are joined by a relatively large rear wing, and there's a pusher prop on the back for efficient high-speed cruise, during which the lift props will all lock into their lowest-drag orientation.

Zuri's hybrid approach appears to be running battery packs mainly for the VTOL phases of flight, with a relatively small combustion motor driving the pusher prop.

Zuri began flying small-scale prototypes with 2-m (6.6 ft) and 5-m (16.4 ft) wingspans back in 2018, and has since marshaled the funding to build a 90 percent scale tech demonstrator with an 11-m (36 ft) wingspan.

Zuri team members with the large-scale tech demonstrator
Zuri

This tech demonstrator has now entered its first phase of flight testing, performing static tethered hover tests in a "flying wing" configuration. Once hover testing is complete, the company plans to finish it off, and make a single-seat experimental aircraft out of it to proceed with further testing.

Angel-funded with about €2.4 million (US$2.7 million) at this stage, Zuri says it's got enough cash "for the current development phase." Commercial certification, of course, is a different kettle of very large and fragrant fish that most expect will push well into the hundreds of millions of dollars before companies deliver a single customer order.

To raise that kind of money, Zuri will need to differentiate itself pretty substantially from the rest of this bustling market, and it's hard to see a combustion engine and gas tank moving the needle too far among investors with pockets that deep. But you never know, and the Zuri team has done admirably to advance as far as it has.

Check out the short first flight test video below.

Source: Zuri

View gallery - 7 images
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11 comments
EH
What are the things hanging all over the final version? Sensors of some kind? Amulets. I'm going with amulets.
The air intake on top looks a little weird, too. Why the small orifice and expanding duct?
Towerman
Another bulky plane with vtol props...
These concepts just does not feel right....
Aermaco
We will likely see more eVTOL projects that seek travel; speed, distance, efficiency, and safety with engine failure using wings over only a hover capability.
guzmanchinky
I love how many people are trying so hard to make this work. It's like the early days of aviation all over again...
Towerman
@maco
No we will not, short distance hop Evtols are already flying commercially. Range is just fine. Wingedcopters require huge areas to land within and is yet to become a commercial option. They are bulky and i question the efficiancy.
Towerman
Furthermore a multicopter with engine failure is safer than a wingcopter because you can fly just fine without a motor and land anywhere you want. So sorry you got that wrong as well.
Steven Clarkson
Indeed i agree these concepts just look so cluttered, the wings are mere posts for holding the motors, i don't see any aerodynamics in their purpose. Conventional multicopters work just fine and don't just hover, they actually fly distances usable for commercial purposes, and range will only increase with time.
Aermaco
It may be normal but it still seems puzzling that cheerleaders of lift by propeller only feel threatened by more efficient and safer flight systems. This is while even more options toward better efficiency & safety keep surfacing and evolving, as has always been the case in tech evolution.
Towerman
I fail to see where any "propeller" craft enthusiasts feel threatened, in fact it is the exact opposite. Winged aircraft are limited as to where they can land and take off period.
On an EVTOL For the wingspan to be really worth considered an efficiency benefit, it needs to be large, defeating the purpose of confinement. Moreover your glide ration will be comparable to just about a brick with all that drag hanging from the wings.

Furthermore The records of many winged experimental aircraft is dodgy,
Not safe nor efficient at all. No Multicopters have built in redundancy and are by far safer in a motor out situation. In an helicopter you need to descend and time your collective precisely or you botch the landing, in an airplane you need to land asap, you cannot choose your landing location. Multicopters has an advantage over any other craft in existence.
Towerman
As with multicopters with redundancy, a dead motor will still allow you to continue to fly and land safely.