ES‑30 Battery‑Electric Regional Aircraft

This mission is fully battery‑powered, demonstrating the application of all‑electric flight at a scale relevant to commercial airline operations, and verifying the technical feasibility for Heart’s production‑grade ES‑30 aircraft.

Heart Aerospace (Los Angeles, California, USA) has completed the maiden flight of its X‑1 demonstrator aircraft. The aircraft measures 106 ft in overall length and 76 ft from nose to tail, with a take‑off weight exceeding 25 000 lb. Reportedly, it is the largest battery‑electric aircraft ever built. It features composite‑material fuselage and wing structures.

The flight took place on August 12 at Heart’s X‑1 flight‑test facility at Plattsburgh International Airport, a regional commercial airport serving a community of around 20 000 residents in upstate New York. The manned flight lasted 27 minutes; X‑1 climbed to 1 100 ft above ground level, and its all‑electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power.

Conducted under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate for Experimental Category (SAC‑EC), the test sequence included taxiing, take‑off, climb, manoeuvring and landing. The mission aimed to demonstrate all‑electric flight at a scale relevant to commercial airline operations.

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Heart projects

ES‑30 will enter service in 2031,

and ES‑30 is expected to cut aircraft operating costs by more than 40%.

Fully battery‑powered, the X‑1 consumed approximately $5 worth of electricity during its first flight. This flight occurred amid surging global jet‑fuel prices: for the week ending August 7, jet‑fuel averaged $3.50 per gallon, a 63 % year‑on‑year increase. This highlights the potential of electric‑propulsion technology to cut airline operating costs and insulate carriers from volatility in global petroleum markets.

“With X‑1’s first flight, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of commercial airliners,” stated Anders Forslund, Founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace.

The X‑1 is a full‑scale demonstrator for Heart’s production‑ready ES‑30 aircraft. It validates key technologies, aerodynamics, flight performance, as well as the organisation’s engineering capabilities. The ES‑30 is a conventional fixed‑wing 30‑seat hybrid‑electric regional airliner under development to meet FAA Part 25 certification standards. Major airlines including United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX have placed customer commitments for the aircraft.

Heart projects that the ES‑30 will enter service in 2031, delivering more than 40 % lower operating costs compared with conventional regional aircraft. The cost reduction stems primarily from lower energy costs, reduced maintenance requirements for simplified electric propulsion and electrified aircraft systems, plus improved uptime and reliability from integrated electronic and software architectures.

Heart expects this cost advantage to widen further as battery technology advances, crew‑efficiency gains materialise, and the ES‑30 benefits from reduced exposure to growing aviation‑related taxes and fees worldwide.

Heart is currently building the first pre‑production ES‑30 at its pilot manufacturing facility in Los Angeles; flight tests are scheduled to commence in 2028.

The full‑scale Heart X‑1 prototype from Heart Aerospace incorporates composite‑material fuselage and wings, and was originally targeted for a maiden flight in 2025.

Heart Aerospace, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, unveiled its full‑scale demonstrator aircraft, marking a key milestone in development of its ES‑30 hybrid‑electric regional aircraft.

“Our industry is working through a 30‑year innovation cycle, and we have less than 25 years to achieve aviation decarbonisation. We need new approaches to bring net‑zero aerospace technologies to market faster,” said Anders Forslund, Co‑founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace. “Our team’s creativity and dedication are demonstrated by the fact that we built a demonstrator for a 30‑seat aircraft with novel propulsion systems largely in‑house in less than two years.”

Known as Heart Experimental 1 (Heart X‑1), the demonstrator has a 32‑metre wingspan and serves as a rigorous test‑bed for the ES‑30 development programme. It features composite fuselage and wings. Unlike the final production configuration, it is powered entirely by four 400‑kW electric motors manufactured by Italy‑based Phase. New integrated fairing‑nacelle designs using Heart’s automated composite‑material technology will also be incorporated into upcoming prototypes.

The engine‑nacelle concept improves the aerodynamic performance of the ES‑30’s wings, enabling operations from shorter runways.

Initially, HX‑1 underwent ground testing covering charging operations, taxiing and turnaround procedures. The all‑electric maiden flight was originally planned for Q2 2025. In preparation for flight, Heart carried out on‑aircraft and off‑aircraft hardware testing of critical systems in the preceding months.

Development of Heart X‑1 received partial funding from Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, illustrating how government‑industry collaboration can bring new aerospace technologies to market.

Building on lessons learned from Heart X‑1, the company is developing aircraft‑manufacturing workflows combining advanced composite‑material production and product‑lifecycle management. This will deliver a data‑driven assembly line with high repeatability, automation and non‑destructive inspection capabilities.

Heart’s next development step for the ES‑30 is the pre‑production prototype Heart X‑2, which will refine design and manufacturing processes based on Heart X‑1 operational experience.

Heart X‑2 is scheduled to perform hybrid‑electric flights in 2026 and will demonstrate the company’s proprietary hybrid‑electric propulsion system. In August of this year, Heart Aerospace was awarded a $4.1 million grant under the FAA’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Transition (FAST) programme to develop hybrid‑electric propulsion‑management systems.

This momentum supports the construction of pilot manufacturing facilities to accelerate prototype fabrication on the path toward fully‑certified aircraft production. Heart targets type certification for the ES‑30 by the end of this decade.

The ES‑30 is a regional hybrid‑electric aircraft with a standard 30‑seat capacity, optimised for sustainability and efficiency on short‑haul routes. Its zero‑emission all‑electric range is 200 km; hybrid‑electric mode delivers a 400‑km range.

Sources

1. Heart Aerospace X1 Battery‑Electric Aircraft Demonstrator Makes First Flight, 17 Aug 2026

2. Heart Aerospace reveals hybrid‑electric aircraft demonstrator, 23 Sep 2024

Compiled by Yang Chaofan, 19 Aug 2026