Two years ago, Erick Herzberger and Benoît Senellart were among the main curiosities of the famous Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. These two French entrepreneurs then wanted to “take the temperature” about a new project that seemed a little crazy, Eenuee, created two months earlier. Namely the launch of commercial flights in electric planes. The two accomplices rely on 15 years of common history with Lisa Airplanes, a Haute-Savoie start-up that designed Akoya, a small two-seater amphibious plane, whose industrialization should start in China within two years.
“With Akoya, our objective was to optimize fuel consumption performance in flight, explains Erick Herzberger. In our mind, speed has never been the most important parameter. This reasoning is more relevant than ever in 2022 with Eenuee, its two electric motors and its 19 seats in addition to the two pilots.
“We will be able to connect almost any destination”
Respectively engineers in composite materials and in power electronics, Benoît Senellart and Erick Herzberger mainly started from two thoughts for their new project: “What if the plane could transport passengers not from airport to airport but from field to a lake or a small airfield? “, but also “wouldn’t this be the way to meet an important need for mobility between regions in France, given that transport from east to west has been forgotten? »
So much so that Eenuee estimates, for example, that it can offer a flight between Saint-Etienne and La Rochelle lasting 2 hours, compared to between 5 and 6 hours currently with existing transport. “Finally, our project is similar to the BlaBlaCar model, with a lot of flexibility, says Erick Herzberger. We will be able to connect almost any destination, including those without dedicated infrastructure. Our planes will even be able to make a few stops, like a bus. »
“Opening up” the Saint-Etienne region
Inspired by the Canadian company Harbor Air, which serves several cities from Vancouver, Eenuee notably sought “funding and partners” in China in 2021. And this for lack of convincing for the moment in France. “Here, we are still clearly in the shadow of Airbus, which is both a jewel and a brake,” said Erick Herzberger. The start-up is seeking 2 million euros in funding to move forward on its prototype, before a second fundraising of 20 million euros in 2023.
Since last month, Eenuee has been welcomed at Saint-Etienne airport, both to set up its offices and to multiply the tests with its 1/7th scale demonstrator. One of the challenges is to “open up” the Saint-Etienne region, and the young start-up is convinced of being able to “boost the territories by advancing transport issues”. Erick Herzberger thus presents the guidelines of Eenuee.
“We want to develop another way of flying, with less speed, less fuel consumption, low ecological impact, the opposite of what the A380 represents. »
“Complements and not competitors to Air France and SNCF”
All this not at 800 km/h but between 250 and 300 km/h, “a bit like the TGV”, and at an altitude between 2,000 and 3,000 m from the ground under pressurization, far from the 10,000 m of a “classic” flight. “. Eenuee starts with a range of 700 km and a consumption, in gasoline equivalent, of less than 1 l/100 km, or “twice as much as a Tesla electric vehicle”. What would be the cost of such a trip for the general public? Eenuee expects the passenger to pay for their place around 25 cents per km, i.e. “a rate substantially identical to that of a TGV ticket”.
The objective of the structure of four engineers and five advisers (in addition to the two founders) is to fly the first full-scale prototype by the end of 2024, before a first experimental commercial line by the end of 2026. How could they be welcomed by then into the landscape of French modes of transport? “We want to get closer to Air France and the SNCF, says Erick Herzberger. We hope they will see us as complements and not competitors to their offer. We want to connect people who currently are not. »