VAI Member Spotlight is a free service VAI provides its small-business members to help increase their visibility. If your company would like to be considered for a VAI Member Spotlight, please sign up here. Not a member? Join VAI and start enjoying the many benefits our members receive! VAI Member Spotlight: VerdeGo Aero, Florida, USA Technology experts join forces to create start-up company focused on building hybrid–electric engines. By Jen Boyer Hybrid powerplant start-up company VerdeGo Aero’s aviation roots run deep. The company was founded in 2017 by technology executive Eric Bartsch, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University aerospace engineering professor Pat Anderson, and Spirit of St. Louis pilot Charles Lindbergh’s grandson Erik Lindbergh, himself an innovator in electric propulsion technology for aircraft. The three visionaries joined forces with the goal of accelerating the electrification of flight by combining conventional propulsion technologies with next-generation electric flight to create a hybrid powerplant that can drive electric motors. “The core benefit hybrid power provides is it enables an electrified aircraft to take advantage of the superior energy storage you find in liquid fuels as compared to batteries,” says David Eichstedt, VerdeGo Aero’s VP of product management. “Liquid fuel has about 26 times the energy storage as the best battery pack today. If you have an aircraft that was already designed to be all electric with batteries, and you want to convert it to a hybrid, the hybrid powerplant with some fuel is much lighter than batteries,” Eichstedt adds. “So, you end up with an aircraft that’s still electric-powered but uses jet fuel as the energy source, and it can travel 5 to 10 times the range and endurance than on batteries alone, and typically with increased payload capability, because the hybrid powerplant is typically lighter than the batteries it replaces.” Focus on Engines Located within the research park at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, VerdeGo Aero was originally founded to develop its own aircraft, but its founders soon recognized that the market was crowded with many companies focused on electric aircraft and they decided to pivot to hybrid powerplants. The company has designed two primary hybrid powerplant architectures: a piston–hybrid system, currently at technology readiness level (TRL) 7, and a turbine–hybrid system, currently at TRL 6. VerdeGo is working with multiple undisclosed companies, including to conduct manned and unmanned flight tests. Blended Turbofan System A key component of the company’s turbine–hybrid engine is its blended turbofan system, which can produce power for electric-lift rotors or forward flight using a single engine core, Eichstedt notes. The company sees this design as especially promising for high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) applications, with potential interest from military programs such as the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Speed and Runway Independent Technologies project. Funding Support VerdeGo Aero has secured various rounds of funding, including from lead investor RTX Ventures (Pratt & Whitney’s venture arm) in 2022 and 2024. The company is currently using a Pratt & Whitney helicopter engine in its turbine system and has begun offering its powerplant for lease to companies that need ground-demonstration systems. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
