Aircraft
EcoPulse Hybrid-electric Aircraft Debuts at Paris Airshow
Daher, Airbus, and Safran are exhibiting their jointly-developed EcoPulse hybrid-electric aircraft at the Paris Airshow.
Daher/Airbus/Safran EcoPulse
The EcoPulse hybrid-electric demonstrator—a Daher TBM with six electric motors on the wing leading edges—is making its public debut this week at the 2023 Paris Airshow. Daher, Airbus, and Safran are collaborating on the program. (Photo: David McIntosh/AIN)

The EcoPulse, a hybrid-electric technology demonstrator jointly developed by Daher, Safran, and Airbus is making its public debut this week at the Paris Airshow. Having completed the first flight tests in 2022 using a conventional thermal engine, the EcoPulse team now works to integrate the hybrid-electric propulsion system and plans to fly the converted aircraft for the first time this summer. 

Using a Daher TBM 900 single-engine turboprop converted with a hybrid-electric powertrain, the EcoPulse project intends to evaluate the advantages of a hybrid-electric distributed propulsion system, such as increased efficiency and the reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions and noise pollution.