VoltAero’s Cassio 330 electric-hybrid aircraft development programme has received a financial boost from the French government in the form of a €5.6 million grant via BPI France.
The financing was made available through the “France 2030” investment plan, which had previously been established by the French government to assist with sustainably transforming key sectors of the country’s economy – including aeronautics.
“This grant is another important vote of confidence in VoltAero and our vision to develop the unique family of Cassio electric-hybrid general aviation airplanes for safe, quiet, efficient and eco-friendly flight,” stated Jean Botti, VoltAero’s CEO and Chief Technical Officer. “It contributes to the Cassio 330’s development, certification and production.”
The Cassio 330 is the first of three different versions in VoltAero’s electric-hybrid aircraft family which all enjoy a high degree of modularity and commonality. The Cassio family’s design is based on VoltAero’s clean-sheet configuration with a sleek, aerodynamically optimized aircraft and will be an extremely capable and reliable product line for regional commercial operators, air taxi/charter companies, private owners, plus in the utility-category service for cargo, postal delivery and medical evacuation (Medevac) applications. Through the integration of VoltAero’s patented electric-hybrid propulsion system into the purpose-designed airplane, Cassio aims to deliver an order of magnitude higher performance when compared to current competition and provide significantly reduced operational costs.
The initial version will be the Cassio 330, the five-seat model with power delivered by the 330-kilowatt electric-hybrid propulsion system. VoltAero’s follow-on six-seat Cassio 480 will have an electric-hybrid propulsion power of 480 kilowatts, while the Cassio 600 is sized at a 12-seat capacity with electric-hybrid propulsion power of 600 kilowatts.
VoltAero is headquartered at the Aérodrome de Royan-Médis in southwest France. The Cassio aircraft are to undergo final assembly in a purpose-built facility at the Rochefort Charente-Maritime Airport in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
