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MGI Cargo (technology demonstrator)
MGI Engineering
Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
www.mgiengineering.com
MGI Engineering was founded 2003 and is based in the United Kingdom. The company is an engineering company that works in the maritime, motorsport, automotive and aerospace industries. The company is accomplished in composites, stress analysis, reliability, project management, CAD, FEA, Mechanical Engineering, Team Building, car design, engineering consultancy, 3D Printing, AS9100D, batteries and more.
The company has recently designed and created an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air cargo technology demonstrator. The company has also stated they are looking for clients, partners and investors for their eVTOL air cargo aircraft. The company unveiled the technology demonstrator at the eVTOL Insights London Conference on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in London, England.
The MGI Cargo eVTOL technology demonstrator has eight propellers and eight electric motors with a central fuselage for the air cargo. The production aircraft is scalable for up to 500 kg (1,102 lb) of air cargo. The production model will have the unique design feature of allowing the customer to configure the aircraft as a tilt-wing or a multicopter, depending upon the client’s air mission requirements.
The tilt-wing option has a tandem wing configuration with two propellers and two electric motors on each wing. For the multicopter option, the wings are removed and has two stacked propellers and their respective electric motors placed where the wing assembly was connected to the fuselage.
The company has also stated the aircraft will be designed to have two power sources. An all battery power source or a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid-electric power source. Customers will have the option of ordering either power source to power their aircraft. As of April 2023, the company has not provided any timeline for serial production of their eVTOL (or hybrid-electric VTOL) air cargo aircraft.
Specifications:
- Aircraft type: eVTOL air cargo aircraft
- Piloting: Remote
- Capacity: Cargo only
- Maximum payload: Scalable up to 500 kg (1,102 lb)
- Propellers: 8 propellers
- Electric motors: 8 electric motors
- Power source: Batteries (and/or a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid-electric power source)
- Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
- Wings: Tandem tilt-wings (or the tilt-wings can be removed and then placed with stacked multicopter propellers without wings)
- Landing gear: Fixed wheeled landing gear
- Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers (or ducted fans) and motors on the aircraft so if one or more propellers (ducted fans) or motors fail, the other working propellers (or ducted fans) and motors can safely land the aircraft. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft.
Company Insights:
Resources:
- MGI Engineering website
- MGI Engineering Facebook
- MGI Engineering Twitter
- MGI Engineering LinkedIn
- Article: MGI Engineering Launches Cargo eVTOL, Commercial UAV News, Apr. 20, 2023
- Article: MGI launches cargo eVTOL UAV demonstrator, The Engineer, Apr. 20, 2023
- Article: MGI Engineering Launches Cargo eVTOL Development Program, eVTOL Insights, Apr. 21, 2023
