EU-Backed ELEVATED Project to Put Hybrid-Electric Systems to the Test for Rolls-Royce’s Next-Generation UltraFan

Rolls-Royce has detailed a new EU-funded research effort to develop a hybrid-electric version of a gas turbine engine, part of the company’s broader push to mature technology for its UltraFan 30 engine aimed at future narrowbody aircraft.

The project, known as ELEVATED, was among 19 initiatives selected under the fourth call for proposals by Clean Aviation, the EU-backed aerospace research body. Clean Aviation disclosed the selections on 17 September, with the cohort set to share €290 million (roughly $332 million) in funding. ELEVATED is led by Rolls-Royce’s German division, and the funding is contingent on completion of grant preparation.

Under the programme, Rolls-Royce will embed a hybrid-electric system into a donor gas turbine engine, allowing the technology to be integrated, controlled, and tested under realistic operating conditions. The company has not named the donor engine, though its Pearl family of business jet powerplants is widely viewed as a likely choice — the UltraFan 30 demonstrator itself will be built around a Pearl engine core, and the two share a broadly similar two-spool architecture.

The work sits within Clean Aviation’s ‘Short-Medium Range’ workstream, which targets next-generation narrowbody aircraft. Rolls-Royce says ELEVATED is a key element of its effort to advance the ducted geared-fan UltraFan architecture to technology readiness level 6 — a measure indicating a technology has been validated in a relevant environment. The company expects the first run of the UltraFan 30 demonstrator in 2028, and views hybrid-electric integration as a route to a 20% reduction in emissions at aircraft level.

Separately, the underlying turbomachinery is being matured through the UNIFIED project, a four-year, €89 million Clean Aviation programme that began in January and is intended to lead to eventual flight testing.

“By integrating and demonstrating an innovative hybrid-electric system under realistic conditions, we will generate data to validate our modelling and inform technology selection, product development, certification planning and industrialisation,” said Alan Newby, Rolls-Royce’s director of research and technology.

Rolls-Royce has not disclosed its ELEVATED partners, describing them only as industry, academic, and research organisations based in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The company is also participating in two other fourth-call Clean Aviation projects — FARMAN, led by Safran Aircraft Engines, and H-ELENA, led by GE Avio — both focused on burning hydrogen directly in turbine engines.

What to watch

• Completion of grant preparation, which the funding remains subject to.
• Identification of the donor engine for the hybrid-electric integration.
• First run of the UltraFan 30 demonstrator, expected in 2028.
• Progress milestones from the UNIFIED turbomachinery programme ahead of planned flight testing.

Source: original release