Siemens Digital Industries Software announced that sustainable aviation company, Dovetail Electric Aviation (Dovetail), has selected the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software to design zero emission, battery and hydrogen-electric propulsion systems for commercial aircraft. Optimizing the principles of circular economy, the propulsion systems will be retrofitted into legacy airplanes used by regional airlines and leisure and cargo flights, helping them reduce operating costs by up to 40%, while truly decarbonizing air transportation.

Headquartered in Australia and with operations in Spain, Dovetail is currently the only company worldwide converting Cessna 208s into zero emission battery electric, and the only company designing a hydrogen-electric retrofit for the Beechcraft King Air, the most successful aircraft in its category. Dovetail recently signed Scandinavian Seaplanes as a customer and counts Regional Express (Australia), Victorian Government (Australia), Air Nostrum (Iberia’s Regional airline, Spain) and Volotea (Spain) amongst its investors or financial supporters.

NX™ X software for cloud enabled computer-aided design (CAD) will help Dovetail develop the propulsion systems and engines, creating seamless collaborative workflows between teams based in Spain and Australia. Dovetail will benefit from turning digital twin design concepts and iterations into viable prototypes more quickly, thereby saving time in design and rework.

“Whilst a lot has changed in the world of aviation, the fundamental structure of an aircraft hasn’t changed much. Therefore, it makes perfect business and sustainability sense to retrofit capable aircraft with new generation, zero emissions drivetrains that take a significant step towards cleaner air travel. This helps us collectively achieve net zero and saves costs. As we’ve grown, we’ve realized the need to invest in software that helps us create digital twins of the propulsion systems we design, is easily accessible worldwide and increases collaboration between our design teams in Australia and Spain. Siemens’ software is at the heart of our ability to deliver zero emissions air travel, whilst enabling aircraft operators to reduce operating costs by up to 40%,” said David Doral, CEO of Dovetail Electric Aviation.

In addition to bringing to market a battery electric propulsion concept, Dovetail is also developing a hydrogen-electric version, including a fuel cell and a hydrogen storage system. NX X will enable Dovetail to be efficient in editing and viewing complex design models, speed up product development and more effectively manage the design process by creating a digital thread, a single source of truth, through the design process.

“Digital twins are vital when designing mission critical final products such as race cars, racing yachts, ships, space satellites and now, alternative aircraft propulsion systems. Our software has a great history and heritage of helping various companies push the boundaries and go beyond frontiers,” said Samantha Murray, Managing Director, Siemens Digital Industries Software, Australia and New Zealand. “It’s great to now be part of Dovetail’s journey as they use technology and innovation to address the biggest challenge of our time, climate change. We talk about the importance of circular economy in economic and environmental sustainability and here’s a great example of a company achieving just that using our software.”