POETS Center companies seek electric-powered commercial air travel

Boeing Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. are investing in startup Zunum Aero, which is developing an electric-powered aircraft with the potential to transform regional flights.

 

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” said MechSE professor Andrew Alleyne, director of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS) headquartered at Illinois. “But it comes with some serious technology challenges.”

 

Zunum and Boeing both are members of the POETS Center, which focuses on increasing the power density of the electrified transportation system in the U.S.

 

Read the full article, including more insight from Professor Alleyne, at Bloomberg.com.