Northwest Aerospace News February | March 2019 Issue No. 7 | Page 28

U nlike traditional aircraft OEMs, Zunum is trying to simultaneously develop an airframe and a propulsion system. “It’s a whole lot of moving parts.” But unlike the critics, Knapp said Zu- num is confident that battery technol- ogy advances will make the plane not only possible, but competitive. “Everything that exists today is good enough to make it work,” he said. “That will continue to improve over time. Motors are still improving. Bat- teries are still improving.” 28 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS And with the need to address global climate change becoming ever more urgent, Zunum could be part of a nec- essary transition in transport. Climate scientists say air travel accounts for about three percent of greenhouse gas emissions currently, but its share is rising rapidly. “We are looking to take down emis- sions by about 50 percent right away,” he said. “By 2025, we’ll be all-battery, and we’ll be zero emissions by that point.” From that point, who knows? “This is the first step in what we see as a family of propulsion systems,” Knapp said. “This is a new paradigm of operations.” Zunum Aero 19820 N Creek Parkway #201 Bothell, WA 98011 Email [email protected] https://zunum.aero