Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has completed a month-long flight-test campaign in Germany, with Singapore’s first electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) aircraft designed and built in the country.

In a statement on Tuesday, the NTU said the team flew two demonstrators, with wingspans of 8 meters and 3 meters, working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The larger aircraft climbed above 90 meters and the smaller one reached speeds of more than 120 kilometers per hour. The prototypes are research technology demonstrators and are not designed to carry passengers, the NTU added.

The tests ran from July to August in Cochstedt, Germany. It demonstrated the aircraft’s ability to hover, fly using its fixed wings, and switch between the two modes.

The campaign was the first time Singapore had designed, built, integrated, and flown a complete electric aircraft, the NTU noted. The prototype was first shown publicly at the Singapore Airshow in February.

The aircraft uses electrically powered rotors mounted on its wings to lift off vertically and hover. As it gains forward speed, its wings generate lift and a rear propeller provides thrust, allowing it to fly like a conventional aeroplane. In that mode it draws on the power of a single motor, compared with conventional designs using eight rotors.

The aircraft is the result of more than three years of work by an NTU center of about 30 research engineers, together with students and partners from 11 countries. The team designed the electric motor and airframe and developed the propulsion, avionics, and electrical and flight-control systems.

NTU said the aircraft would continue to serve as a research platform as the university continues studying hydrogen propulsion, higher-capacity batteries, and aircraft of different sizes, including a possible five-seat version. The program remains a research effort without regulatory certification for commercial flight.

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