---
title: "Chinese Researchers Are Working on an Electric Helicopter"
description: "A team of Chinese engineers are working on developing an electric helicopter, according to local news."
date: "2019-07-31"
modified: "2019-07-31"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-researchers-electric-helicopter"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "electric aircraft"
  - "electric plane"
  - "helicopter"
  - "the digest"
---

# Chinese Researchers Are Working on an Electric Helicopter

![A team of Chinese engineers are working on developing an electric helicopter, according to local news.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/chinese-researchers-are-working-on-an-electric-helicopter.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Electric Helicopter

A team of Chinese engineers are working on an electric helicopter, [according to the state-owned China News Service](<http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-07-30/detail-ifzmnmiq8701497.shtml>). The team is hoping that the use of electric motors could not only save fuel but make helicopters lighter and easier to control.

According to chief designer Deng Jinghui from the China Helicopter Research and Development Institute in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, the team will first replace the tail rotor of a traditional helicopter with an electric motor for "exploring and verifying the technical feasibility of an all-electric helicopter."

If all goes well, the team will experiment with replacing the main engine and rotor as well.

## Streamlining

By removing the need for a transmission — electric motors simply don't need one — flying a helicopter could become a lot easier.

"The removal of transmissions and the use of electric motors will help to reduce a helicopter's weight, streamline its structure, make control easier and also improve reliability," Deng said, as quoted by the *China News Service*.

It wouldn't be the first electric helicopter in existence. Connecticut-based aviation company Sikorsky Aircraft's Sikorsky Firefly all-electric helicopter [has been referred to](<https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Sikorsky-rolls-out-first-all-electric-helicopter-590195.php>) as the first of its kind when it was announced in 2010.

**READ MORE: [ Electric helicopter research underway ](<http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-07-30/detail-ifzmnmiq8701497.shtml>)**\[*ECSN.cn*\]

**More on electric aircraft:** *[We've Never Been This Close to Making Electric Flight a Reality](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/close-electric-flight-reality>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)