Moya Aero has started work on a hybrid-electric version of its planned autonomous eVTOL aircraft in response to demands from prospective customers for more range. The Brazilian start-up this week announced it will prioritize this model over the original battery-electric version in order to increase the range from around 60 nm to 163 nm, with a projected payload remaining at 440 pounds.
According to Moya’s CEO Alexandre Zaramela, it will soon confirm the identity of an established aircraft engine manufacturer that will supply a piston engine to be used as a generator to recharge batteries during the horizontal flight. Battery power alone will be used for takeoffs and landings for the aircraft, which is intended mainly for applications such as logistics and crop spraying.
“We will still have the all-electric version, and the [airframe] design is the same,” Zaramela told AIN. “The idea is just to extend the range, which needs a higher power density than we have now. We’ve reached a plateau with [the performance of] batteries and so in the short term cannot add more range with these.”
Installed in a series hybrid configuration, the piston engine will serve purely as a generator for recharging the batteries and will not directly drive the propellers. In the event of the engine failing, Moya said there would be sufficient power in the batteries to land the aircraft safely.
The design features two pairs of propellers, installed on a tandem wing configuration, each powered by its own electric motor. Rather than tilting the wings or propellers, the fuselage rotates between vertical and horizontal phases of flight.
Despite the change of plan, Moya is still aiming to achieve type certification in 2026 and start deliveries in 2027. Zaramela said that development work with a technology demonstrator that started flying in November 2023 will continue while the company starts ground testing the new hybrid propulsion system in a ground-based test rig to prepare for integration with the electric motors. He added that it has been working on its plans for a hybrid option for some time.
According to Moya, it now holds letters of intent covering potential orders for 119 of the unnamed eVTOL vehicles, and the majority of these are expected to be the hybrid-electric version. Prospective customers include 7Reis Farm in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, where the company will use the aircraft to spray large soya bean plantations.
Moya recently opened a Series A funding round to secure new investors. Last year, the Brazilian government’s FINEP agency awarded the company a $2 million grant to support development work.