EVERETT—Everett-based transportation electrification company magniX is partnering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in developing technology to power hybrid-electric regional aircrafts as part of NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project.
The EPFD project partners with several leaders in the aerospace industry in order to demonstrate electrified aircraft propulsion technology to reduce emissions caused by future commercial aircrafts by the mid 2030’s.
On Thursday, August 22, both partners held a special unveiling ceremony at Seattle’s Boeing Field where the public was able to catch its first glimpse of magniX’s Dash 7 aircraft which will be a testbed for NASA’s EPFD project.
magniX will retrofit this aircraft with a new hybrid electric system—one hybrid-electric propulsion system combined with two magniX electric propulsion units with two conventional combustion engines. The company plans to begin both ground and test flights for the Dash 7 at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake some time in 2026.
“We are a research organization that continues to advance aviation, solve the problems of flight, and lead the community into the future,” said Robert A. Pearce, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. “Through our EPFD project, we’re taking big steps in partnership to make sure electric aviation is part of the future of commercial flight.”
During Thursday’s ceremony Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and who has been a longtime proponent for increasing federal support for research and development of sustainable aviation tech from authoring the Sustainable Skies Act to securing $287 million for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Low Emissions Aviation Grant Program, publicly celebrated the partnership stating:
“Electric aircraft technologies developed by Everett-based magniX and Seattle-based AeroTEC and tested in Moses Lake represent another promising chapter of aerospace innovation built and made possible in the State of Washington. This NASA project aims to scale up electric battery technology so it can power passenger planes. Today’s announcement brings us another step closer to enabling cleaner, lower cost, and energy-efficient regional flights that will better connect small and rural communities in Washington and across the nation.”
Cantwell’s office said the NASA and magniX partnership project will create 50 more jobs across magniX’s Everett facility and the Moses Lake testing site while paving the way to mature electric propulsion systems and enable the next generation of hybrid electric-powered aircraft.
Her office also said that cost-efficient electric and hydrogen powertrains have the potential to improve connectivity to small and rural communities that need reliable scheduled service to boost their local businesses and economies.
This is the second time Sen. Cantwell has celebrated a magniX achievement in its venture toward cleaner, greener, aviation fuel. Just last year she attended magniX’s first successful flight test of a De Havilland Dash-8-300 regional aircraft retrofitted to fly using hydrogen fuel cell and magniX’s electric propulsion technologies in Moses Lake.
Prior to moving their workforce to Everett in 2021, the company was headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
