ITP Aero leads two R&D projects on electric propulsion systems for urban and regional mobility, with a total budget of 13 million euros, and which will represent the first propulsion systems of these characteristics made in Spain.

Although the electrification of land propulsion systems has reached high levels of technological and manufacturing maturity, the strict safety and energy density requirements applicable to air transport make the use of electric propulsion in the sector difficult. For this reason, ITP Aero is committed to the development of disruptive technologies that enable more sustainable air transport systems. Thus, the aeronautical company, with the aim of integrating the complete system, aims to achieve five different variants of propulsion systems with a very wide power range ranging from 60 to 600 kilowatts. The electric urban and regional mobility sector is going to be a growing market over the next decade and ITP Aero is technologically preparing for the expected demand.

These zero-emission electric propulsion systems will be intended for urban and interurban mobility applications, such as air taxis, which will be able to provide rapid connection services between cities and airports, travel within and between cities, emergency services and logistics operations. In the high power range, these distributed electric propulsion systems will be able to be used in limited range regional applications. In a second phase and in line with ITP Aero's disruptive technology development plan, the company plans to hybridize this type of propulsion systems for use in regional aviation.

Erlantz Cristóbal, CTO of ITP Aero, commented: “At ITP Aero we are committed to the decarbonization of the aeronautical sector and distributed electric propulsion is a key technology to achieve this. These projects represent a milestone in our market diversification strategy, and we foresee that by the end of this decade there will be a strong development in the demand for this type of aircraft, reaching figures of between 300 and 600 aircraft per year."

Both projects are being developed thanks to public-private collaboration. Specifically, the project, called Aperturas , is subsidized by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation of Spain (CDTI) attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain through the “Aeronautical Technological Program” within the framework of the Recovery Plan, Transformation and Resilience. In addition to ITP Aero, Ingeteam, Egile, Zeleros, Umiles-Next, technology centers and universities such as Tecnalia, CTA, CEIT, Mondragon Unibertsitatea and UPValencia also participate.

Likewise, the project called Preludio is subsidized by the business R&D support program, Hazitek 2022, of the Basque Government, in which, in addition to ITP Aero, Ingeteam, Alconza, Antec, Suprasys, Egile, technology centers and universities such as Tecnalia, CTA, CEIT, Mondragon Unibertsitatea, IKERLAN and IRDE.