VerdeGo Aero and XTI Aircraft Company have announced that they will work together on XTI’s autonomous hybrid-electric TriFan 200 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. As part of the partnership, VerdeGo will be providing its diesel-electric hybrid powertrain for the cargo-oriented TriFan 200. XTI is also developing the larger six-seat TriFan 600.
“The TriFan 200 aircraft will open up a significant new market for XTI to address the needs of cargo and logistics operators globally,” said XTI Aircraft CEO Robert LaBelle. “We are excited to be partnered with VerdeGo to leverage their experience with hybrid powertrains combined with our experience from the TriFan 600 program to create an efficient, economical, profitable VTOL aircraft for fleet operators worldwide.”
The autonomous TriFan 200 VTOL is expected to be capable of carrying up to 500 pounds of cargo with a range of greater than 200 NM. The design is targeted at short-range “express logistics” operations. As previously reported by AVweb, XTI completed the first test flights of a 65 percent scale TriFan 600 proof-of-concept prototype last year.
