Visit us at Booth 1229 at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit on March 22–24 in Washington, D.C.!

By 2040, Wright will eliminate carbon emissions from all flights under 800 miles.

Wright's goal is to make all single-aisle flights shorter than 800 miles zero-emissions.

Landscape of aviation emissions chartLandscape of aviation emissions chart

45% of all aviation emissions are from single-aisle flights.

Single-aisle planes are the most common airplanes used by airlines, designed for short to medium-distance flights. If you have flown on Delta, Southwest, or easyJet, you've likely flown on a single-aisle plane. Currently, there are no zero-emissions single-aisle planes.

The Wright Spirit is the first zero-emissions 100-passenger plane, designed for one-hour flights.

Total carbon emissions from aviation globally

1.04 billion tonnes of CO2
45%

Wide-body and cargo flights

<5%

Light aircraft and personal flights

Wright 1 airplane

We're the long-term solution to carbon-neutral aviation.

Our novel propulsion system and upcoming airplanes reduce emissions without a need for offsets. We're bringing zero-emissions flight down to the same cost as running a fossil-fueled fleet and being part of the next generation of aviation with the electrification of the aerospace industry.

Testing through 2023

We're integrating our propulsion system for diverse applications, collaborating with NASA, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of Defense.

Wright Spirit by 2026

The Wright Spirit will serve one-hour flights for the busiest city pairs in the world, including Seoul-Jeju, London-Paris, Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo, and San Francisco-Los Angeles.

Wright 1 by 2030

With our propulsion system and enhanced plane design, Wright is developing the first zero-emissions airplane for everyday use, at a price comparable to fossil-fueled alternatives.

World-class engineering meets a vision for sustainable flight

Wright was founded in 2016 by Jeff Engler, is a serial entrepreneur who had long been concerned about reducing his own carbon footprint. He realized that air travel is a huge contributor to emissions, comprising up to three-quarters of a frequent traveler’s carbon footprint, and decided to do something about it. Jeff hired top engineers from companies like Boeing, GE and Bombardier to build Wright’s electric propulsion system.

Zero emissions up to 800 miles

The Wright 1 will make all short flights under 800 miles free of carbon emissions, in the U.S. and globally.
San Francisco
→ Seattle: 679 miles
→ Las Vegas: 414 miles
Houston
→ Atlanta: 696 miles
New York
→ Washington D.C.: 213 miles
→ Chicago: 740 miles
Chicago
→ Minneapolis: 334 miles
→ Washington D.C.: 612 miles
→ Atlanta.: 606 miles

Our Leadership

We've brought together the brightest minds in aerospace and electrical engineering to make zero-emissions flight a reality.

Jeff Engler

Founder, CEO

Colin Tschida

Head of Powertrain

Earl Fairall

Director of Electric Machines

Our Team

We've brought together the brightest minds in aerospace and electrical engineering to make zero-emissions flight a reality.

Colin Tschida

Head of Powertrain
Colin has extensive experience with thermal and mechanical analysis, fluid dynamics, and prototype manufacturing, accrued during his university career, in addition to his direct industry experience as a senior scientist at ABB U.S. Corporate Research. During this six-year period, Colin led development and analysis of novel electric motor designs, developed new concepts for motor and power electronics cooling and packaging, and led prototyping for diverse projects. He has experience in supply chain and team management, and has taught courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer. He has a BA in physics from Grinnell College and MS/PhD in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Dave Lasselle

Mechanical Engineer
Dave began his career in the motor startup LC Drives, beginning at the ground level and progressing to the title of Senior Engineer. At the company, he led the design on a groundbreaking assembly system for semi- automated construction of megawatt scale electric motors. His team effectively drove production of a motor half the size of competitors’. Following his time at LC Drives, Dave continued his career in electric vehicle motor design at QM Power before joining Wright as a Mechanical Engineer. Dave earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.

Earl Fairall

Director of Electric Machines
Earl has a strong background in both hybrid and electric vehicle systems and in successful startups. He has been designing, building, and testing electric motors for 15 years. Prior to joining Wright, he was the sixth member of Silicon Valley green-tech startup Turntide Technologies, which sells ultra-high efficiency electric machines to commercial HVAC applications.In June 2022, Turntide became a unicorn, achieving a $1B pre-IPO valuation. Earl enjoys the dynamic energy of startups, and is known to mold into critical roles as required. Earl has a BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Elizabeth Wallace

Operations Director
Elizabeth joined the Wright Electric operations team with a focus on building on successes and ensuring a great experience for all employees. Prior to joining, Elizabeth spent over two decades in the Washington, D.C. area, working with national nonprofit organizations, technology startups, and in commercial real estate. Wright Electric’s mission to reduce carbon emissions is close to her heart after spending nearly a decade at the National Wildlife Federation, which fought to bring awareness of the impacts of climate change to animals (and therefore humans).

Ethan Grey

Junior Electrical Engineer
Ethan discovered an interest in embedded engineering in his college career, as he found the interaction between software and hardware fascinating. Before joining the team at Wright, Ethan worked as a test technician on the low-voltage side for SEPSA Medha, where he tested and repaired electronics for trains. Ethan holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

JP Lien

Senior Embedded Systems/Control Engineer
JP designs and implements embedded hardware and software systems as part of the Power Electronics Team at Wright. He previously spent 10 years developing sonar systems for SeaLandAire Technologies, working at every stage of R&D, from system-level conceptual modeling to implementation, testing, and on to data processing, analysis, and reporting. JP was a Research Scientist at Teledyne Scientific, where he developed target tracking algorithms, and a Staff Engineer at Analytical Mechanics Associates, where he oversaw aircraft and spacecraft modeling and control. He holds a BS degree in Computer Engineering and Mathematics from Virginia Tech, an MSEE from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Electromechanical Systems) from North Carolina State University.

Jeff Engler

Founder & CEO
Jeff Engler is CEO of Wright Electric, an aviation company developing 100+ passenger electric airplanes. He started the company when he learned flying tripled his carbon footprint. He incubated Wright through a Harvard University fellowship and led Wright through the selective Y Combinator accelerator program. He previously co-founded Podimetrics, a medical device company that has raised $70M+ in venture funding. Jeff has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia and Harvard.

Peter Kurowski

Propulsion Lead
Peter is a highly experienced propulsion engineer, who for over a decade, held multiple design and analysis-related engineering positions at Roll Royce, GE Aviation, and Safran, as well as at smaller companies and startups. He has been a key team member on multiple turbofan/turboshaft engines, turbochargers, micro gas turbines and power generators for Airbus & Sikorsky, and on electric propulsion motors for Boeing and for Bell. He holds a BSC in Control Engineering & Robotics and an MSc in Production Engineering from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland.

Stephanie Goulet

Program Management Consultant
Stephanie has been with Wright since 2020, serving first as Assistant Chief of Staff and then as Chief of Staff. Currently, she leads the program management for several of Wright's contracts with government agencies such as NASA, ARPA-E, and the U.S. Air Force. Prior to Wright, she served in various roles related to sustainability and nonprofit development. She holds a B.A. degree in Sustainable Enterprise and Psychology from New England College.

Our Partners

We have strategic partnerships with the U.S. government, airlines, and aviation suppliers.

Our Investors

We work with the world's leading investors.

Subscribe to Updates

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Press Releases