In our last SkyZero podcast, we toured the Heart Aerospace X1 with Ben Stabler two weeks before it’s historic August 12th flight. That day we also sat down with Ben for a longer interview, one where I was less distracted by looking at and climbing all over the aircraft.

While we think the audio stands up on its own, this episode will be better in video. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/kwQczjGd2QM

Heart Aerospace's X1 all electric aircraft is a full scale test article for their ES-30 program.

While ES-30 intends to fly using a hybrid electric system, X1 is electric only - and when it took off August 12th 2026 it set the record as the biggest all electric aircraft ever to fly by weight.

We caught up with Ben and the team in Plattsburgh only two weeks ago to film this, and we're super stoked about this historic moment!

In Season Two, we begin tackling the biggest piece of electric aviation - the unmanned kind. Vries Strookman's work with the Urban Sky Lab is world leading in terms of thinking through how cities should approach the challenge.

Mentioned:

• Kennedy Approach: https://www.kennedyapproach.nl/
• Opposing Bases Podcast: https://www.opposingbases.com/
• Arcam: https://arcam.nl/
• Fabrications: https://www.fabrications.nl/

Jurjen de Jong is an absolute charging pioneer - he founded the GreenFlux EV charging company in 2008 - this is 12 years before the Model Y, and 3 years before even the Nissan Leaf. As such, the decisions they made led to standards that are still in place - the Type 2 AC charging connector for instance. And there was no integration standard, so they had to develop OCPP, now the global standard. While OCPP started in EU, it was picked up by California early and eventually the USA, Canada, even China.

It was super eye opening for me to talk to someone who was there. We talk through the differences and the similarities between aviation and automotive charging, and even talk standards, debating CSS and GEACS, and which missions each is best suited for.

For more:

• https://nrg2fly.com/
• https://efc.aero/

When I talked to Ben Stabler at Heart Aerospace, it finally clicked for me why they scrapped the all electric ES-19 design for the "independent hybrid" ES-30 - its all about IFR reserves and regional airliner economics - and it turns out those turboprops might not be used much... but they're a mass savings, not dead weight. How?

Matthijs Collard is the co-founder and responsible manager for E-Flight Academy - a modern pilot training company in Teuge Netherlands. They fly 90% of the hours towards a Private Pilots License in electric aircraft, the Pipistrel Velis Electro. They hold several records on SkyZero.io - including most flight hours for a single electric aircraft (beating Joby and BETA), and also for the most electric aircraft movements at any single airport, EHTE.

We interview him about what it was like building a flight curriculum around electric aircraft, the solar mini-grid they installed, and how they got started.

Corrections from this interview!

I state incorrectly that:

1) the H55 Bristell Energic is certified in EU and with the FAA. It is not, yet, these certifications are expected in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

2) the Velis Electro is "certified" - there is an FAA exemption for all operators of the Velis Electro under the Light Sport Aircraft category for training, it is not yet type certified in the USA. It is type certified in Canada.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2024/march/07/faa-grants-exemption-for-velis-electro

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2025-11-16/transport-canada-certifies-three-pipistrel-light-aircraft

Ben Stabler, the CTO at Heart Aerospace, talks to us about their ES-30 aircraft - a 30 seat independent hybrid regional airliner. In fully electric mode it can fly 200km carrying 30 people - with its turboprop turbines engaged, it can travel 800 km carrying 25 people. It replaces the ES-19 - a fully electric 19 seater - and we talk to Ben about the change, how the new aircraft works, how they predict the market will make use of this aircraft, and the future of aviation.

Ben's a thoughtful, intelligent engineering leader, and he really talked openly about the challenges and what Heart Aerospace is trying to do.

More on Heart Aerospace:

https://www.heartaerospace.com

https://www.youtube.com/@HeartAero

We interview Robert Rowland, Senior Engineer on Joby's charging team about the Global Electric Aviation Charging System. While many electric aviation players choose existing standards, like CCS, Joby's started from first principles and asked themselves "how do you build a charging system for air taxis?"

Many folks know how innovative the Joby JAS4 aircraft is - and they've made choices in charging that are just as innovative.

Dr. Haroon Junaidi is an expert in battery design in mobility, and the person behind the YouTube channel Electric Aviation. In his five years and 112 episodes, he's covered everything from next generation battery chemistry, like aluminum air, to wing designs, laminar flow designs, solid state batteries in aviation, and everything you can imagine.

His work is highly recommended - he covers highly technical concepts brilliantly, an excellent blend of going deep, avoiding jargon, and editing things down to the essentials.

For podcast listeners, especially for fans of the Electric Aviation channel, Dr. Junaidi makes his in person debut on the YouTube version of this podcast at https://www.youtube.com/@skyzeroaviation

If you like this episode, make sure to follow the Electric Aviation channel!

In this interview we'll cover approaches to hybrid electric powertrains, including Ampaire's work on their Electric Eel Skymaster conversion, a series, independent powertrain, and the eco Caravan conversion kit, a parallel hybrid. We talk about how they work, how Ed got started, and even about hybrid jet engines??

For more on Ed check out ampaire.com or linkedin.com/in/edlovelace.

For more on SkyZero.io:

• SkyZero.substack.com
• SkyZero.io - the source for intelligence on electrified aviation