Maxime, 19, is currently studying Engineering at ESTACA in Laval. Together with some friends, he has embarked on a very ambitious project, converting a thermic plane to an electric plane. Listen to him describe the first steps on this journey.
Interview Transcript
Frank Okay, so I’m sitting here with Maxime, who most of you know quite well, because whenever Maxime has to say anything, we usually end up praising him, complimenting him, congratulating him, and Maxime, as we also know, is going to start a very big project. Welcome, Maxime, to this little interview.
Maxime Thank you, hello.
Frank I’m going to start the questions with a very basic one. What is the primary objective of this project of yours? Can you describe it a little bit?
Maxime Yes, so the goal of the project is to re-engine a thermic plane into an electric one, so the goal is to change the engine with an electric motor.
Frank Is that all?
Maxime Excuse me?
Frank Is that all?
Maxime So that’s the first objective, and the second one is to do a trip around France with this plane and to fly with this electric plane. We have the idea to embark some handicapped children to discover the future of aviation.
Frank Well that sounds pretty easy, you just take an engine out of the plane, put in an electric motor, start the ignition, and fly away.
Maxime Yes, this project sounds very simple, but there are a lot of engineers on this project, so we need to check the plane to replace the battery to study the plane a lot.
Frank Okay, so tell me, what inspired you to do this project, to launch this project?
Maxime What is what?
Frank What inspired you to launch this project?
Maxime Firstly, at school we have a lot of automobile projects, but there are not very big aeronautics projects, so we want to develop one, and that’s why we want to do this project with a big budget, and to engage a lot of students, and to develop the aeronautical part of the school.
Frank When you say a big budget, how big is big? What numbers are you looking at?
Maxime The first estimation was at 200 000 euros for this project.
Frank And you have got the money together? Have you spoken to the bank and said we would like 200 000 euros, and we will fly you around France on an electric plane?
Maxime For the moment we haven’t this money, that’s why we want to contact some company to work together, and to have some help, money help, or engineering help, or some material from different companies, like the plane or motor with a different company according to the school.
Frank Okay, so who are the key stakeholders in this project? Who are the main project players?
Maxime For the moment we are five totally engaged in the project in the first year, and this week we want to engage other people in the second or third years at school.
Frank And how would you sell them this idea of yours if you want them to become part of your project team? What is your sales pitch? What are you going to tell them?
Maxime I don’t understand the question.
Frank Okay, why do people want to join your project team? How are you going to explain to them what your project is about?
Maxime We want to do a presentation and go to the different classes at school and to present the project in the second, third and fourth years in the class and specialising in aeronautics.
Frank Will I get paid if I am part of the project team? Will you pay me money?
Maxime No, no. Nobody can pay for the project.
Frank Okay, so how long do you think this project will last? When do you want to actually fly this plane?
Maxime For the moment we estimate this project for five years, but we know that there is another school in Switzerland that do a similar, not exactly the same, but a similar project in just two years. But we also know that this school has a lot of partnerships, but in my school, we estimate this project for four or five years.
Frank So when you say that there is another school in Switzerland that is doing the same or similar, do you see them as competition or do you see them as colleagues? Would you go to them and ask them for advice and information?
Maxime I think that’s a little bit of the truth because in engineering school we can help together, so the Switzerland school can help us and we can help them. But yes, there is a little competition between the two.
Frank Okay, so how are you going to organize this project? You are five people at the moment. Are you the project leader at this point, or what is your role, and how are you going to organize this project as it stands now?
Maxime So for the moment I am the co-leader of the project, and we are five, but in a few weeks, we will be a little bit more with second, third and fourth years. And so we are going to engage some people and during the five years, there are different parts.
The first is to find some partnerships and a little bit of money for the project. The second is to do the dimension of all the electrical parts for the plane, so we want to dimension the electric motor, the batteries, and how to integrate the motor and the battery on the plane. And the third part is to take the plane physically and to make the project really physical.
Frank Of course you just cannot build the plane and then take it to an airport and fly it and you will need some authorization, you will need some certification. Have you thought about that?
Maxime Yes, for that we have EASA which is the European, so some people in Europe deliver the certificate to fly with the plane and that’s why we want to have a person for EASA who checks the part of the plane to deliver the certificate.
Frank Okay, so, milestones. What sort of milestones, what sort of steps would you need between now and when you take off in a few years time? Do you have a what do you want to achieve let’s say in 2023, in 2024, because you were not just working on this project, you are also studying, and you want to go to some parties, and you have your gymnastics, so you have a busy life already, so how are you going to plan this project into building blocks, and milestones?
Maxime So for 2023 we wanted to do a big part of the paper for the project because there are big administrative parts and we want to find some partnerships this year and after that we want to really engage the study for 2024 for one or two years, two years maximum, and so in at the middle of 2025 or maximum in 2026 we want to have the plane to begin the integration of electric motor and batteries, and finally do the trips around France at the end of 2026 and 2027.
Frank So you’re going to get a plane from somewhere, is there an airport near Laval where you can keep this plane or where are you going to park it?
Maxime So in Laval there are an airport and an aerodrome and the aerodrome knows the association with who we wanted to develop the project, and we are going to make another association with this aerodrome to do the project
Frank to see through this project.
Maxime To see the plane and to work on the plane.
Frank Okay so you can park it nearby and you can work on the plane whenever you want to. So do you actually want to do the rebuilding of the plane yourself, you and your project colleagues here?
Maxime Yes, we did all the work not by myself but by me and my team, but that’s possible to have some engineer or partnership to check what we do.
Frank Okay so you said you are the co-leader of this project, so at the moment you are a team of five friends or five people, who is going to do what?
Maxime For the moment all people work on all parts, and we are going to focus people on the point of the project. This week we have a meeting to distribute the different parts, and we want to have a person who checks the communication, another about the certification, and another about partnerships.
Frank Okay so the budget you said is about 200 000 euros, that’s a lot of money.
Maxime Yes.
Frank Do you have 200 000 euros?
Maxime No, no but in this 200 000 euro there are the plane, the electric motor, the batteries, the aeronautics material, all the communication and so all part of the project is on this 200 000 and the goal is to have a plane from a company who give the plane, the electric motor too, the batteries too and all of that was possible, and the school have some partnership who can give the material, so that reduce the money we need.
Frank Okay what about documenting the project and also keeping maybe the project without sharing the project on social media, so are you thinking about that maybe a Facebook page or an Instagram page or something like that?
Maxime Yes, so we need to have some social media for the project, for the communication, and we want to have an Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and also a website for the project and to communicate about the project and which part we are doing. So with communication, some partnerships can see what we do and can engage themselves in the project.
Frank Okay so what is for you at this point, I mean you were very, very much at the beginning of this project, what do you see as the major challenges being this program, what’s the biggest problem?
Maxime For the moment the major challenge is to find a partnership that wanted to help us for the moment that the biggest challenge, so we have just finished passing this part but the school and the association, but the school and the association were okay to begin the project so that part is finished, and now we want to, we need to find a partnership and to do a lot of communication and to find the biggest team with a lot of students.
Frank So you’re 19 years old, you and the others you’re all teenagers, can you tell us something about what people like you need in order to be successful? Can you explain to us your mindset because we’re looking at something that is by any standards very, very challenging, very complicated, you don’t really know any way forward at the moment, you’re working instinctively, you are taking a huge risk, so can you say something about what other people can learn what other people can learn from you about having the right mindset, the right mentality to make this project a success to you?
Maxime You just need to do what you want, but you need to know what you want and if you know what you want you can do everything, so I know what I want to develop, and now I provoke the destiny to do the project and that’s all.
Frank It’s that simple, yeah? Just go forward and do it, yes?
Maxime That’s a lot of work but if you like and if you want, you can.
Frank Is it work or is it fun? It’s fun.
Maxime And if it’s fun
Frank it’s not work, yeah?
Maxime It’s hard but it’s fun.
Frank Okay, all right, well I certainly know what I want, I would love to accompany you in the next five years, you’re on the project team and help document this and certainly follow the project and look and I look forward to seeing the plane and hopefully there might be a seat for me available where I can sit in this plane as well and fly to Paris.
Okay, so we’ll see how this continues and I look forward to more discussions with you about this fantastic project.
But, before I go, one final question. Do you have a particular project name yet, or are you still looking forward?
Maxime We have found the name but the school said that there are other projects with the name so we need to change the project and at the moment we haven’t one.
Frank So what was the name that you were thinking of?
Maxime The name was ERA for Electro Retrofit Aeroplane, but that’s the name of another project, so we cannot choose this one.
Frank Okay, so I’m sure you will send a press release when the project name has been finalized. Yes. Okay, Maxime, good to speak to you and I look forward to more comments and more discussions with you about this project in the future.