H55
Swiss aviation company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
H55 is a Swiss company that produces electric propulsion systems for the aviation industry. The company is a spin-off of the Solar Impulse project. André Borschberg, a former pilot for the project, is a co-founder. The company is headquartered in Sion, Switzerland.[1]
| Founded | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Founder | André Borschberg, Sébastien Demont, and Gregory Blatt. |
| Headquarters | , Switzerland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Aymeric Sallin, Martin Larose and Andy Sheehan. |
| Products | Electric Propulsion System Battery System |
| Website | https://h55.ch/en/ |
History
The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Sion, Switzerland.[1][2] It's founders are André Borschberg, Sébastien Demont, and Gregory Blatt.[3] H55 has locations in Toulouse, France, and Montreal, Canada.[3]
The company's main product, a battery system, was approved by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in early 2024.[4][5]
In April 2021 it partnered with Harbour Air, a Richmond, British Columbia based seaplane operator.[2][6][7] Harbour Air is converting de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers to run on electricity, using H55 batteries.[8][7][9]
In 2022 H55 agreed to supply battery systems for a Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) regional hybrid-electric flight demonstrator program.[6][10][11] The project intends to convert a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 to be hybrid-electric, aiming for a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency.[12] Other partners include: Collins Aerospace; De Havilland Canada; the Canadian government’s National Research Council Canada (NRC); and the Quebec government’s Innovative Vehicle Institute (IVI). CAE and Piper Aircraft selected H55 to provide the battery for the electric conversion kit for the Piper Archer aircraft.[13][14][15]
In 2023, H55 expanded into Canada as H55 Canada Inc.[2] The company received a $10,000,000 interest-free loan from the Canadian government as part of the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative.[1][16] Investissement Québec, a provincial investment company, invested in H55.[17] The company planned to open a manufacturing facility in Greater Montréal with the investment to provide batteries and other products to the North American market.
H55 registered a company in Toulouse, France in December, 2023[18] to partner with Czech plane maker BRM Aero on an electric two-seater aircraft.[13] In 2025 H55 began demonstration flights of its B23 electric two-seat plane, based on the Bristell B23 ultralight.[19]