Electric aircraft start-up ERC System plans vertical take-off aircraft by 2031

E-Airplane: Shut up, the Third! Now the Third Start-Up Wants to Take An E-Hybrid Aircraft into the Air

2026-02-10 Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

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Following the failure of two electric aircraft start-ups, a third young company has now announced its intention to bring a vertical take-off and landing aircraft to series production by 2031 ...

This is Romeo. This vertical take-off electric aircraft with hybrid drive was developed by ERC System from Ottobrunn and recently presented in Erding. It is still a drone, but Romeo is set to achieve what Volocopter and Lilium have failed to do ...(Image: ERC system) — This is Romeo. This vertical take-off electric aircraft with hybrid drive was developed by ERC System from Ottobrunn and recently presented in Erding. It is still a drone, but Romeo is set to achieve what Volocopter and Lilium have failed to do ...
(Image: ERC system)

The electric aircraft equipped with a hybrid engine is being developed by ERC System, a company founded in Ottobrunn in 2020. The idea is that it could be used as a flying ambulance. The cooperation partner is therefore the DRF air rescue service. At least that's what the management of the company, which has 60 employees, and the DRF reported at the presentation of a prototype called Romeo in Erding. The bosses of ERC System therefore believe that electric aircraft will have a future. "We can fly electrically at completely different operating costs than a conventional aircraft," says Max Oligschläger, co-founder and commercial director of the company. There is also a significant market behind this - especially for aircraft for transporting five or six people. However, according to aviation engineers, the electric drive is not suitable for larger aircraft at the current stage of development. The prototype is effectively a remote-controlled drone, but the finished aircraft will be flown by pilots. The finished aircraft should have a range of up to 500 miles, which explains the hybrid drive.

ERC System Has More Financially Stable Future Prospects

Incidentally, electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) is the name given to electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft in aviation jargon. In the past two years, however, the two German developers of such aircraft—Lilium and Volocopter—have filed for bankruptcy despite all the good prerequisites. There was simply a lack of willing investors. Lilium ceased operations and Volocopter was eventually taken over by a Chinese company. However, ERC System has a long-term investor in the form of the aviation service provider IABG, which is also based in Bavaria. Oligschläger comments: "We need a strategic investor who not only provides us with capital, but can also support us with experience and staying power." And that is the case with IABG. In the medium to long term, however, ERC also wants to bring other investors on board—or rather into the e-aircraft.

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