Capgemini is to help French startup Ascendance certificate and manufacture its five-seat hybrid-electric VTOL, including the powertrain the aircraft will use.
Toulouse-based Ascendance, which was founded in 2018 is developing the Atea hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft to have a range of 400km (250 miles) while carrying four passengers or up to 400kg (881 lbs) of payload.
Ascendance is targeting applications such as passenger transport, medical, logistics and surveillance in regional aviation markets for Atea. The company plans to fly the first full-scale Atea prototype later this year.
The company is also developing a patented modular hybrid-electric propulsion system called Sterna for Atea. Once proven on Atea the company hopes to sell Sterna to other aircraft makers.
Consultants Capgemini are already assisting Ascendance with Atea’s development and certification across disciplines such as system engineering, flight physics and control, and power systems and battery development.
An extension of the partnership agreed this week will see Capegimini engineers also help with the scale-up and industrialization of Sterna and Atea.
Capgemini said it is providing Ascendance capabilities in engineering, technology, data and business transformation in the fields of electric battery, industrial ramp-up, connected services, and digital continuity as part of the agreement.
William Rozé, CEO of Capgemini Engineering said, “We are extremely pleased to expand our relationship with Ascendance. After a successful first phase to support their innovative product development roadmap, we are now pivoting from technology demonstrations to industrialization.
“Together, with Ascendance’s hybrid modular propulsion system and our capabilities in critical engineering disciplines, digital and business transformation, we are ready to accelerate and deploy decarbonized solutions at scale for the aviation industry.”
Jean-Christophe Lambert, CEO and co-founder of Ascendance said, “We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Capgemini.
“We have forged a strong relationship in recent years with many milestones achieved. Their expertise in engineering, data, and industrialization is crucial to accelerating the commercialization of our hybrid propulsion solution Sterna, and industrialization of our aircraft Atea.”
